Persona 3: The Other Side
by reversethepolarbearities
Summary: Two years after the events of the P-1 Climax, shadows are begin returning at an alarming rate. To help stop them, Mitsuru attempts to bring back an old friend with results that could change everything.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is another big story I had an idea for involving The Persona 3 cast following the events of Arena Ultimax. It's not going to be a humor based story like every other story I've done so far, so hopefully it doesn't suck. And if it does suck, hopefully it doesn't suck that bad… either way, just let me know anything in the reviews as usual. Good, Bad, Ugly, whatever you want._

 _Thanks for reading_

 **Chapter 1:**

The clock read 11:43 AM, as it usually did every time Tetsuzan checked his phone. He was in the usual spot with his crew, the electronics department of The Junes store in the city of Tatsumi Port Island. It was still pretty new, built only a few months ago. The manager was a cool dude, or rather, he was a complete pushover. All it took was a few measly threats from them and he let them use the store after hours for whatever they desired.

With that access, the place became a huge hotspot for teens and young adults to party. There was free food, tons of furniture to rest on, and anything else you could imagine. Whatever your desire, Junes had it. They say "Everyday's Great at Your Junes", but the nights were greater and tonight was no different. Tetsuzan was sitting on top of a large television, smoking a single cigarette as others were partying to loud rap music playing on one of the many CD players in the store.

"Tetsuzan!" a woman in a pink tanktop ran over to him and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and gave him a kiss, "Come and dance with us!" she laughed at him, trying to pull him off the television.

"No," he chuckled, "I don't feel like dancing."

"God you are such a spoil-sport!" she continued to pull on him, "Just one dance!"

"Fine," he hopped down off of the television, "Just one! Then I'm going home."

"Leaving me so soon!" she faked crying, "The party is just getting started!"

"I didn't say that I was leaving alone," he smiled wryly as he gave her a little pat on the butt, her giving a slight hit on the chest from his perversion, "Alright! Do I have to show you how it's done boys and girls!" he swaggered over towards the crowd as his girlfriend was distracted.

The television he was sitting on had magically come on, and it wasn't on any channel she recognized. There was a good amount of static at first, which was odd since these televisions were far too new to have static on them, or at least she thought so. The television also had these weird lines all over them, it was an almost hypnotic pattern that drew her closer and closer to the television.

"Kanami!" Tetsuzan called over to her, "Quit watching television and get over…here…" he walked over to get her and was drawn into the same trance she was, "What's this channel? What the hell…" the rest of the crowd began to look around as one by one television switched on to the same channel as that one, everyone entrapped in its strangeness.

"What the hell is this?" one man said as he walked over to the television, attempting to change the channel, but every channel was the same.

"Haha," a girl looked around as she began to slowly back away from the electronic department, "Funny prank guys, now stop it! You know how much I hate horror movies! STOP!"

"We're not doing anything!" Tetsuzan yelled out, "I…I…" he stared at the television as it was seemed to bubble outwards, the screen looking as it were about to pop like a balloon. Just then, as the tension was at its height, a long black hand spewed from out of the screen and out poured a blob of black goo that collapsed onto the ground.

"W-What?!" the girl yelled out as she looked around as more blobs began dropping out from the television. Soon, they began to take a more solid form and large masks began to form on them as they crawled towards all of them.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" a guy cried as he pushed a couple of girls down and sprinted toward the exit. Soon, a mob of people began running out of the electronics department, being chased by monsters that endlessly poured from out of the television.

They ran for the front entrance, slamming into the doors as they realized that they were still locked. One of the men grabbed a nearby trashcan and slammed into into the door, shattering the glass as they all began to crawl out of the building as quickly as they could.

"Kanami!" Tetsuzan reached from outside the store to pull her out, but as she reached out a black hand grabbed her long brown hair and began to pull her back. She let out a blood curdling scream as the monster pulled her along the floor as the other monsters began to pile onto her.

"GOD! NO! NOOO!" she was screaming as loud as she could, "SOMEONE! PLEASE!" The goop began to overcome her entire body as she felt nothing but coldness and darkness engulf her entire form. As all hope seemed lost for her and death inevitable a large light poured into her as the gunk was parted from her. Over her stood a woman with long red hair, not much older than herself in a black latex suit, holding a large sword of sorts.

"Get out of her!" she yelled as she threw her away from those monsters and she scurried towards the opening in the door and towards the others.

"The civilians are all safe," Fukka said over the intercom, "There's none left in the store."

"Affirmative," Mitsuru replied as she sliced a couple more shadows to her left, "Shadow Operatives, move in!" she commanded as several people ran into the store from the various entrances and began to lay siege to all the shadows in sight.

"Batter up!" Jupei Iori yelled as he took a golf swing at one of the shadows, sending it flying upward as it was riddled from bullets on the upper level by Aigis who was hopping around shooting and stray shadows she could see.

"Sister!" Labrys, the newest member of the team, leapt towards Aigis as the two used their momentum to spin around killing most of the shadows on the second floor.

"Labrys, my sensors indicate there are several shadows in the food court on the roof," Aigis shot at a couple more shadows near them.

"On it," she ran towards the off escalator to the roof. Aigis turned her attention towards a couple more shadows, but before she could fire an arrow pierced both of their bodies and pinned them against a nearby wall before dissolving into nothing.

"Too slow Aigis," Yukari teased as she ran along and hopped onto the railing and began firing a volley of arrows below at the shadows.

"Ken? Where are you and Koromaru?" Mitsuru asked as she and Junpei were fighting off shadows in the main area of the first floor.

"We're right here!" he said as he and Koromaru burst from out of the clothing section on the other end of the first floor. Koromaru was tearing shadows apart left and right as Ken was stabbing shadows as far as he could reach with his spear.

"We've got them on the ropes!" Yukari said, "They're retreating back into the television world!"

"Not on my watch," Junpei aimed his bat like a throwing spear and threw it at the nearest television as hard as could. The bat flew almost flawlessly through the air as it eventually collided with the television, and was sucked inside.

"Uh…" Junpei looked around, "Were's the sporting goods sections… I kinda…"

"No shit Junpei," Yukari said as she shot and arrow near Junpei, killing a shadow that was just behind him.

"TRISMEGISTUS!" Junpei yelled as he pulled his Evoker out as fire a shot, summoning his Persona. Trismegistus flew out, slashing several shadows before they managed to escape. Next, it let out a large fiery blast that engulfed most of the electronics department, destroying all of the televisions, but setting the entire section ablaze.

"Mitsuru!" Junpei whined.

"ARTEMISIA!" Mitsuru summoned her persona as it flew out and quickly doused the fire out with a large blast of ice.

"Thanks!" Junpei said as he looked around for more shadows to fight, but there were none that he could see, "Fuuka, are we clear?"

"I can detect no more shadows in the immediate area," Fuuka said, "Good work team!"

"Indeed," Aigis jumped down to the ground floor with Labrys as Yukari was hurrying down the stairs.

"Wow," Yukari looked around in shock as she, along with the rest of the team, examined the damage that they had caused in their battle. The electronics department was completely burned to the ground and most of the stores were now a wreck with shelves and displays thrown about and broken. The main floor was also pretty bad. The large fountain in the middle was broken and water sprayed sideways all over the floor as Koromaru walked over and began to take a drink, thirsty from the immediate battle, "We really destroyed the store."

"I'll contact the usual people at The Kirijo Group, they'll pay for the damages to the store," Mitusuru looked around, "And as for the witnesses, we'll make up the usual cover up story of a gas leak that caused hallucinations."

"I detected several of them had various forms of drugs and alcohol in their system," Aigis said,"They will most likely assume that what they witnessed was some sort of side effect caused by those toxins inside of them."

"Since the Krijio Group is gonna cover the loses, I'm just gonna go over at grab a new bat really quick… if you don't mind," he looked at Mitusure for approval, but only received her usually icy glare, along with the same from everyone else, "What… I lost my bat! It's one bat! It's not stealing!"

"Mitsuru-san, may I speak with you for a moment?" Aigis walked over to Mitsuru as Junpei ran off towards the sports section of Junes.

"Yes Aigis?" Mitsuru said as the two began to walk away from the group to talk privately.

"This incident marks the fourth appearance of shadows outside of The Midnight Channel in the past three weeks," Aigis said, "Until now; there had been no recorded case of shadow incidents of this scale since the events of Inaba two years ago."

Two years ago, seemed like a lifetime to Mitsuru and the rest of them. A new world inside of the television, a new group of persona users, it was all so amazing. Over the course of a couple of days in that small town they had dealt with the experiments of The Kirijo Group, particularly Sho Minazuki. After all of that, life went on as usual and very few shadows showed up in the real world again until now. What had caused them to show up again, and why?

"Could this be the work of Sho or Hinokagatsuchi?" Aigis asked.

"Maybe, we haven't heard anything from Sho since he disappeared two years ago and from what we know Hinokagatsuchi is dead," Mitsuru paced around as she tried to think what caused the shadows to become so active again, "All I know for certain is that the intensity of the shadows has increased every time we have faced them these past two weeks and that there's no signs of stopping them…"

"What do you suggest we do?" Aigis asked.

"We continue to fight them, but we'll need more help," Mitsuru told Aigis.

"Should we contact Yu Narukami and those back in Inaba, perhaps they would like to join The Shadow Operatives."

"You can, but they have their own lives and I don't want to drag them into this against their own will," Mitsuru said, "I have several ideas, but for now we continue to do this on our own." Mitsuru and Aigis met up with the group again, Junpei giving a few practice swings with his bran new metal bat.

"Pretty nice?" Junpei said, "Huh? It was the most expensive one they had in stock.. that wasn't blown up."

"Let's move out," Mitsuru said.

"You mean everyone get in the helicopter while Junpei and Yukari walk home," Junpai groaned.

"I rode on a motorcycle here," Yukari said.

"Can I get a ride?" Junpei asked, "I can just hop on the back and hold on."

"In your dreams!" Yukari blushed.

"Dammit it, I seriously had to walk like 20 blocks to get here!" Junpai groaned, "Tell me I can at least take the chopper partway there."

"If you wanna hop off in the air," Ken laughed, "See you later Junpei, I'll come to your next game!" the group walked away as Junpei stood alone and defeated

"Damn…" he said, beginning the long walk home.

Outside the Shadow Ops boarded the stealth chopper as the waved goodbye to Yukari who sped off on her cycle and to Junpei who walked along carrying his new bat the opposite way. As the helicopter took off, Mitsuru contacted Fuuka who was back at base.

"Fuuka, we are heading back," Mitsuru said, "We'll be there in about five minutes."

"See you there," Fuuka said, "I got dinner waiting."

"She's making dinner again?" Ken asked as Mitsuru nodded, "Gross… I miss Shinji, he could cook."

"Fuuka tries very hard," Labrys said, "You should show some appreciation you brat."

"I'm not a brat, I'm 15 years old!" he said, "I'm basically a man!"

"Unfortunately, in the eyes of most of your peers and the Japanese government you are not," Aigis explained, "In the eyes of The Japanese Government you are not an adult until you are 20, in the eyes of most men and women, culture dictates you are not a man until you either kill an animal or sleep with a woman." Ken blushed as Koromaru let out a whimper at the suggestion of killing an animal.

"Aww, pup, he ain't gonna kill you," Labrys said as she picked up Koromaru and rested him on her lap. Soon, the chopper pulled into a small hanger located outside the city and flew into a long runway that ran under the island to what was known as The Shadow Operatives Base of Operations.

The main portion of the base was located under the Krijio Group headquarters in the city, a large skyscraper that stood in the near center of the city. The inside of the underground complex were several levels made of mostly glass and metal. The place had it all: a kitchen, a gym, several bedrooms where Ken and Fuuka stayed along with several other unused bedrooms that occasionally occupied by Mitusuru, Akihiko, Junpei, or Yukari. There was also a large lab at the bottom used by Aigis, Labrys, and various Krijio scientists who assisted The Shadow Ops and performed various research for the corporation.

The Shadow Ops themselves have remained almost the same since the events in Inaba. Mitsuru, Aigis, and Labrys had always been there. Ken had rejoined a few months later, mostly for the free housing and resources Mitsuru presented to him to stay on retainer while in school, Koromaru also by his side. Yukari and Junpei also were on retainer, but pursuing their own careers and education outside of the group. Akihiko was a wild card to be honest, constantly leaving on one adventure or another across the globe doing god knows what.

As the helicopter landed on the small area devoted for its storage, the group got out and were met by Fuuka and Kikuno Saikawa, Mitsuru's head maid.

"Mitsuru-san, I am pleased to see you are unharmed from your battle, I can have bath drawn for you when ready and…" she droned on.

"I have research to do," Mitsuru said as she handed her rapier to Kikuno and walked off to the elevator with Aigis and Labrys to head towards the bottom of the base.

"And I have dinner ready for you and Koromaru," Fuuka smiled, "A nice vegetarian stew for both of you!"

"I want meat!" Ken whined, "Akihiko says meat is important for a growing boy like me," Ken said, "I'm sick of vegetarian food!"

"Nonsense, it's so much easier to prepare than meat!" Fuuka said, "And a growing boy and dog need their veggie more than ever!" Fuuka defend, "Come on! Before it gets cold!"

"Uh…" Ken softly groaned.

Down in the lab, a few scientists were examining Labrys and Aigis to ensure that they received any damages that needed repairs. Mitsuru watched as the two robots were plugged into their chairs and put to sleep to recharge their batteries.

"Are they asleep?" Mitsuru looked over.

"Mitsuru-san," The scientist bowed, "They are asleep, no serious damages beyond the usual wear and tear," he softly chuckled, "…Did you need something."

"Yes," she looked around, "I need you to pull a file for me… number 1-0-9-9-7," she said.

"One zero niner niner seven?" his eyes widened, "Why would you need that file? The project was closed off several years ago after creating…"

"I know," she cut him off, "But, I need to consider all my options now that these shadows are back," Mitsuru walked off, "I'm going to examine the remaining artifacts." She walked over to a small round elevator in the wall and performed a quick retinal scan and finger print to confirm her identity as Mitsuru Krijio before entering. The elevator quickly sped down even further into the earth before arriving at its only floor.

The floor was very small; a dark blue light covered the entire room as she stepped out of the elevator. The room was extremely cold, basically a meat locker and the air was compressed to prevent any contamination of the objects in the room. Mitsuru walked all the way to the end of the room, to a tall metal safe that require another series of scans and codes to open. Mitsuru entered them one by one, eventually a small confirmation beep sounded as a small pop came from the safe and a small portion of it came out. Mitsuru slowly pulled the rectangular container from out of the safe as she was engulfed with a lighter blue glow. Inside, were the only remaining pieces that Kirijo had to their most powerful artifacts, Plume of Dusks.

These mysterious objects came from Nyx long ago when it impacted the earth before becoming what was now known as the moon. These artifacts were deep in the earth and only a handful had ever been found and went on to create The Anti-Shadow weapons such as Aigis and Labrys and were even implanted into Sho. In the case five of them laid on a large white cloth softer than a pillow. Mitsuru didn't even open the glass case they were behind, only staring at their beauty. Mitsuru quickly pushed the case back into its slot and left the room, heading back up to the base to head to another elevator to head up to her room located in the actual tower.

"Mitsuru-san," the scientist ran back up to her with a large file in his hand, "The file you requested."

"Thank you," she took it from him and headed to the elevator to the surface. As she walked towards it, she opened the file and quickly glanced through it, most of it various figures and equations and designs that had been drawn up. On the cover of the documents was a pure white paper with three single words on it.

The Seraph Project


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Alright, I got a bit of a confession to make, and I'm hoping someone out here can explain it to me. I'm not 100% confident on how the whole Japanese honorifics thing works. In my other stories I tried to avoid them because I didn't want to look like a total idiot using them out of place, whether it be –san, or –chan, or –kun, or-tan, or –senpai (or is it sempai? Or is it just pronounced that way?)_

 _In any case, if someone would want to enlighten me that would be cool because as I write more I would kinda like to get back into it. As always I hope you enjoy._

 ***Chapter 2***

Mitsuru rode the slow elevator up. This elevator was so slow, why did they design it to go so slow? Mitsuru watched the lights flicker from the light above her, almost burnt out and at the end of its life. In her hands Mitsuru held the files to The Seraph Project. Should she read them now? No, after a bath, she needed to be relaxed to fully understand what reactivating this project meant, if she could even reactivate it.

The Kirijo Group had shut down all research and projects pertaining towards shadows and research on shadows since the explosion all those years ago. Of course, they had dealt with what had come out of that incident, Tartarus and The Dark Hour. They had stopped The Fall and Defeated Nyx, but at what cost? The cost of their leader and friend, Minato Aristo.

Minato was an odd man when she first met him, fearless of death and destruction, but not in a heroic or brave way, it was pure apathy. He was able to summon his persona so easily because of that character trait. And it was because of that he managed to save the world, giving up his life to become The Great Seal that separate all of us from the end of the world. She most likely would never see him again, never talk to him again.

The elevator finally arrived at the top floor of the headquarters, Mitsuru's private loft. While she wasn't officially a CEO or any member of The Kirijo Group, in the near future she would be appointed to that position and from there she would run the company with her board of directors. That being said, she still had much power and influence as a wealthy heir to the company. She had an army of maids and butlers, access to an endless supply of inherited wealth, and several mansions and apartments.

The apartment she was in had a very western take on it, specifically Ancient Rome. The walls and lots of furniture and architecture built into were in the style of older Greco-Roman buildings. There were four large pillars that stood in the main lobby with a rectangular stone table that stood in the middle, one pillar at each corner. Her bedroom was almost the same way, two large pillars along with a large king sized bed with dyed velvet sheets and a terrace just outside. However, the true beauty was the large Roman bath they had built.

Mitsuru placed the files on her bed and began to undress for the bath Kikuno Saikawa had drawn. She dropped her large black body suit, her body completely free. The suit was far too tight to wear anything under it and she always found herself very sweaty whenever she removed it. Mitsuru bounced her way into the bathhouse where two naked maids sat in the water.

"Mitsuru-san," they said simultaneously as Mitsuru lowered herself into the bath. As she drowned herself into the piping hot water, one maid began to wash her back while the other washed her front.

"We are pleased to see you are unharmed from your mission Mitsuru-san," one maid said as she moved down to Mitsuru's chest, "Were any of your allies harmed during the mission?"

"No," Mitsuru said as the maid behind her began to work on her hair. Mitsuru was used to bathing with others. Ever since she was little she had maids help her wash and scrub every part of her body. Obviously she could do it herself when necessary, but Mitsuru found lots of pleasure in being pampered like this.

"You cracked a nail it appears," the maid smiled as she was washing Mitsuru's right hand. She looked down to see her ring finger nail had a slight crack in it. She reached over to a small box full of various tools as she pulled out a nail file and began to work on Mitsuru's on them.

"Tell me Mitsuru-san, have you found any potential suitors yet?" the other maid asked as she began washing Mitsuru's lower back. This was a question she was constantly asked by her, along with the Kirijo executives. Mitsuru was in her early twenties, and was beautiful by every standard, but she lacked a mate. This meant that every person of importance at and above the level of The Kirijo group wanted her hand in marriage, along with every executive. This was expected of her since she was a little girl, her father and mother being the same product of this arrangement.

"No," Mitsuru sighed, "Not yet… I have no time for dating and other pleasantries."

"If that is the case, then maybe you should talk to your board of directors, they have several prospects in mind for you, most of them rather sexy if I may say so myself," the maid said as she moved onto washing Mitsuru's bottom. In all honesty, Mitsuru didn't want an arranged marriage, she wanted to feel normal and do what normal people did in their romantic lives, date and pursue that idea of true love.

Mitsuru's maids continued to wash her for some time until she was sparkly clean from head to toe. She stepped out of the water and was dried off and wrapped in a tight pink towel. The maids both dismissed themselves as Mitsuru walked back into her bedroom, getting dressed into her silk red night attire and walked over to a small bar she had near the end of the room and poured herself a glass of red wine. She drank the whole glass almost immediately, the wine taking some of the stress of her life off as she sat down on the edge of the bed. From there, she grabbed the file she placed down and put it on her lap, opening it to the first page.

The Seraph Project. That's all the first page said, three big black bold letters on the top of the blank page. As she opened it up to the next page, was a small description from the lead scientist on the project.

 _The Seraph Project is the successor I've designed to our Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Program. As we may know, the ASSWP is a series of humanoid androids designed with personalities to enact an ability to summon a persona. However, its flaws come from two main parts. First, the requirement of a large amount of Plume of Dusk material in order create that personality, the large the shard the faster a personality development as proven with the creation of the 5_ _th_ _Generation of these machines._

 _The 1_ _st_ _generation was a resounding failure on all accounts. Not a single weapon was managed to successful activate other than one account of a head blinking. The same could be said for the 2_ _nd_ _and 3_ _rd_ _generations, except the third managed to create androids with some personality using Plume of Dusk, but the failure of a persona was noted as it being a failure. However, the 4_ _th_ _generation is where I feel the project went wrong. During the development, the idea of planting false memories or the memories of others onto the machine were introduced, but it was quickly abandoned in favor of creating personalities that they could develop for themselves. The 5_ _th_ _generation was my brain child, everything I fought for. I used the memories of a child, a special child who had a disease of the same girl I met a long time ago when doing business for a now defunct Japanese energy company._

 _It was a failure. Labrys exhibited fatal flaws in her personality, the memories of that girl began to seep in and she couldn't process them. Labrys by all means is kept under lock and key to this day, only her data and memories used in the future research. The 6_ _th_ _generation managed to create several new weapons with my research, but all of them were destroyed attempting to fight shadows, and thus our final generation was created and we created our grand masterpiece, Aigis. A planned 8_ _th_ _generation was in progress until the Kirijo Group scrapped all projects pertaining to Shadows. However, I am determined to right what was wrong, and thus I created The Seraph Project._

 _We need a safeguard to prevent shadows from killing more and more people. The Fall is imminent and we need something powerful enough to combat death itself, and thus I turned back to my child Labrys to create a new series of weapons that would surpass even Aigis herself. The fundamental flaw in Aigis is her humanity, if she were to forge bonds with someone and care about them enough; they could potentially sway her from completing a mission, such as executing them, but that's where The Seraphs do not fail._

 _They are agents of pure logic and will, they will keep the peace and will not need bonds to strengthen their resolve. They will be everything that Labrys was suppose to be, protectors of this world and protectors of any other world that we might discover. Of course, how you might ask is this accomplished? It's quite simple, there is a inhibitor I developed that will keep emotions at bay for them, enable them to think clearly and still have a personality to summon a persona. They are divine protectors of humanity to keep peace and order in this chaotic world._

 _Death is coming at our own faults, and soon it will have me in its grasps as well, this damned disease we'll kill me before I see this project through. If humanity is to survive The Fall, we need to ensure that these shadows will NOT be killed and reunited with death. If that were to happen, then we need a final plan, no human has the strength of will to combat her, and death cannot be killed, thus I implore you to implement my designs, use this data to create a group that can combat shadows at an time, anywhere and those who would seek to summon death._

The long speech ended there. Mitsuru knew about the history of shadows and The Anti-Shadow Suppression creation was actually quite fast, Aigis coming into existence mere months after Labrys. Of course, back then The Kirijo Group and her grandfather weren't afraid of any repercussions from those experiments, but now it seemed that they needed a plan. Shadows were returning, and she didn't know why or how to stop them. The Shadow Operatives couldn't continue to fight like this, they had lives. These Seraphs didn't, and they could bring about peace will Mitsuru attempted to stop the shadows with The Shadow Ops, and they could perhaps lead normal lives.

Mitsuru turned a couple of pages, mostly full of blueprints to various robots. There were dozens and dozens of planned machines, but Mitsuru was only interested in the first five, as there were only five Plumes left. The first, the leader, was Metatron, the voice of god. He was designed to lead the Seraphs, to speak for them. He had two large wings on his back, giving him the ability of flight unlike any other previous model. Most of them had wings, very poetic of their idea and perhaps of what the creator had hoped to see after his death.

Next was Uriel, designed to be a fire based weapon. Raphael who would be ice based. Gabriel, the only female out of the five, would be wind based and a healer for them all. Finally, was Michael who was thunder based weapon. There were countless other designs after the five, likely made by the bed ridden scientist who wanted nothing more than peace. Peace that would last forever sounded very good to Mitsuru at the time.

Mitsur let out a large yawn as she continued to look over all the papers and all the designs, most of it mathematical figures that were too complicated for her. After what seemed like hours of research Mitsuru finally fell back onto her pillow, closing her eyes and drifting one more time off to dreamland.

 ***The next morning***

"Good morning Mitsuru-san," Kikuno walked into Mitsuru's room carrying a large tray designed for eating in bed with a white vegetable omelet and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for Mitsuru. Also on the tray were two newspapers and an itinerary.

"Good morning Kikuno," Mitsuru sat up in bed, her eyes still very closed from waking up.

"Today it is going to be mostly sunny," she said setting the tray down on the bed, "A few clouds in the sky around one to three. The board of directors would like to speak with you today regarding the events that transpired last night at Junes. I've given you a copy of their meeting schedule to fill you in."

"Thank you," Mitsuru said.

"My pleasure Mitsuru-san," she bowed and left Mitsuru to eat breakfast. Mitsuru slowly nibbled on her omelet as she looked over the papers. The headlines all the same, the unexpected destruction of Junes in a gas leak incident. Mitsuru was glad that there were no casualties, but knew that there would be hell to pay. Mitsuru ate her breakfast, getting up and getting undressed for another bath with her maids before getting dressed in a white blouse and black pants for the meeting later this morning. Mitsuru looked at the table in the main part of the apartment, the papers to The Seraph Project neatly put back in order to the file thanks to Kikuno. Mitsuru grabbed the file and headed out the door to her meeting.

 ***A few floors down***

"Ah Ms. Kirijo," the large burly man in a suit sat at the end of the table, "Finally you've decided to join us." Mitsuru walked with her arms crossed, the file in between her arms as she sat at the opposite end of the large wooden and polished table, "Now we can begin. I would like to begin this meeting by address the elephant in the room."

"Are you sure sir?" another board member asked, "We have several larger problems regarding the profit…"

"Silence," the burly man said to him.

"Wait, profits?" Mitsuru asked, "What about profits."

"Don't deflect!" the man seemed to cough up, some spit coming up too.

"No!" Mitsuru scolded back at him, "I am the heir to The Kirijo Group and you will respect my wishes unless you wish to spend the remainder of your years as a line cook at a Wild Duck Burger!" The fat man silenced after the outburst, "Back to what you said…" she looked at the man who spoke up earlier.

"We… we're in the red, deeply," he explained, "The past couple of years have seen a nose dive in profits due to our inability to compete with the markets we've chosen to explore."

"Markets?" Mitsuru asked, "We are a company involved in almost every industry that exists, how can we be in the red."

"Not anymore," he told her, "Lately it seems that consumers are buying from more local businesses and small companies and this small loss of profit snowballed into larger losses as other corporations began to undercut us."

"What does this mean for the future?" Mitsuru asked in a worried tone.

"It means that in about six months this company will not exist anymore!" the fat man spoke up again.

"SIX MONTHS?" Mitsuru stood up, "We are six months away from liquidation? There must be some course of actions we can take to save this company."

"Severe downsizing," another man said, "If we lay off about 50% of the staff off, we could buy a few years and try to rebuild from that."

"Actually, I have a proposal," Mitsuru remembered The Seraph Project, "Shadows are returning, and this might be a good time to open up some previous experiments."

"Just like your grandfather?" a man snarky remarked.

"No, nothing like that," she pushed the file to the center of the table.

"…The Seraph Project?" the fat man at the end laughed, "You want to re-open the anti-shadow programs? Horseshit!"

"It's not," Mitsuru said, "These weapons could save all of us and could potentially discover something that we could use to save this company?"

"Actually…" a woman at the side of the table was glancing at the files, "There might be something we could do with this… The United States Military-Industrial Complex would pay top dollar for robotics like this."

"What?" Mitsuru asked.

"To quote Winston Churchill, 'If I had Canadian Soldiers, American Technology, and British Officers, I could rule the world'," she smiled, "American military is far greater than our own, but they lack a basic understanding of robotics. They are small machines to defuse bombs with wheels and remote controls; they lack any understanding of Artificial Intelligence. If we could perhaps partner with weapon development over there, we could potentially save the company!"

"Not a chance, these weapons are designed to keep peace, not to destroy in wars we have no part in," Mitsuru scowled, "I will not allow it."

"Then there is only one option," the man at the end stood up and walked over to the window, "We'll have to either liquidate or be absorbed by another. In fact, I have an idea that could solve all our problems."

"Proceed," Mitsuru sat back down.

"We'll fund this project," he smiled, "But in return we want you to marry a man that we know would not refuse an opportunity to marry Mitsuru Kirijo."

"Who?" she asked.

"Eiji Nanjo," he smiled.

"Nanjo?" Mitsuru looked at him. The Kirijo group had split from The Nanjo Group a long time ago. They were still business partners and often collaborated, but any idea of a merger back was never even thought of, "What makes you think he would want our company back?"

"As we like to say, two in harmony surpasses one in perfection," he told her, "And what is more 'harmony' than Eiji and Mitsuru together in a marriage rather than two individuals in perfection?"

"I… I need to think about it," Mitsuru looked down.

"It's either that or we don't exist anymore," he said, "Then all of us will be line cooks at Wild Duck Burgers. Now, onto the next item…" the meeting went on for a couple of hours. Things were very bad, Mitsuru had been kept completely in the dark on what was happening, and it was only getting worse and worse. She didn't know who to blame, her board of directors for keeping it from her or herself for not seeing it sooner.

Mitsuru spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon dealing with these problems as best she could, making calls and looking over any cuts she could possibly make to the budget that wouldn't cost anyone their job or severely hurt the company. In the end, she made no progress and retired back to the Shadow Ops back down underground.

"Mitsuru, is something wrong?" Aigis approached her, "I'm detecting high levels of stress and sadness from your body."

"It's nothing Aigis…" Mitsuru smiled, "Just a long day, that's all."

"Very well," Aigis said, "I remain here if you need me." Mitsuru walked off, looking around at the facility with new eyes. Everything could be gone in a few short months, this facility buried and closed. The Shadow Ops disbanded no budget to help any of them out. Unless she married Eiji Nanjo, it was possible. He wasn't unattractive by any means and he wasn't old, he was in his mid-thirties right now. Her father and mother learned to love each other, maybe she could too. However, she wanted a normal life and wanted to know she wanted to know she was marrying the right one of her own free will rather than out of business convenience. However, it seems that such an option may not be possible right now.

Mitsuru made her way over to a longue area they had set up on a level. Ken sat on his knees in front of one of the kotatsu doing some homework as Koromaru lay on the ground curled up next to him. On a nearby couch Junpei was stretched out messing with a portable gaming device.

"Junpei, what are you doing here?" Mitsuru asked.

"Hangin' around," he said distracted by the game, "I might crash here for the night, I don't know."

"We have spare beds," Mitsuru said.

"As long as we aren't sharing a bed," Ken looked at Mitsuru, hoping for a response to the joke.

"Ken, what are you working on?" Mitsuru asked.

"Homework," he said, "Why?"

"Just… curious," Mitsuru looked around some more, "What, uh, what subject?"

"Calculus," Ken was happy at the attention Mitsuru was giving him.

"Pfft, Calculus!" Junpei groaned, "Stupid. You'll never need any of that stuff in real life."

"On the contrary Junpei-san, every scientist here uses Calculus an average of 32.33 times a day," Aigis walked up with Labrys.

"Repeating of course!" Labrys chimed in.

"But Ken doesn't want to be a scientist," Junpei said, "Look at him, he'll be a professional football player or celebrity! That's what you want to be Ken, right?"

"I don't know what I want to do yet," Ken said.

"You're young Ken, you don't need to know yet," Mitsuru encouraged him.

"Thanks Mitsuru," he smiled, "Heck, maybe I could work here at The Kirijo Group in the future?"

"Maybe," Mitsuru smiled at the thought before reality came back and crashed on the thought, "Aigis, was there something you needed?"

"Yes, the scanners have detected some abnormal readings," Aigis told her.

"Shadows?" Mitsuru asked.

"No, it ain't them, but it's weird, that's for sure," Labrys said.

"I'll go check it out," Mitsuru walked away with the two girls.

"So, Ken, anything going on at school?" Junpei propped himself up, "Any fun pranks or rumors or girls?"

"No," Ken said as he messed around on the paper.

"Not a single girl you like?" Junpei asked, "When I was your age women were clamoring all over me. I couldn't stop all the scoring that was going on!" Junpei laughed.

"No you didn't!" Labrys yelled out.

"I mean, some," Junpei corrected himself.

"Also incorrect," Labrys shouted out again.

"How the hell can she hear us… fine, like a dozen over a few years," Junpei said again/

"Wrong again!" Labrys said.

"Fine, maybe like… two or so," Junpei waited for Labrys to chime in again.

"I'll allow it!" Labrys said.

"Come on, you must have a girlfriend right now," Junpei said, "Tell your old uncle Junpei about it!"

"Uncle Junpei?" Ken looked at him, "When have you ever been Uncle Junpei."

"Since… forget it, I'm trying to bond with you Ken! Just tell me if you like any girls in your grade!" Junpei said angered.

"No… well, there is this one girl," Ken said, "I like her, but I don't think she's interested in me other than as a friend."

"The old friendzone!" Junpei said, "You just gotta make a subtle move. Give her some flowers or a gift. Nothing too spendy, but something she'll love. Then, you go in for the kill. Take her out somewhere nice and then pretty soon you'll be making out in the back alley of a ramen store."

"… You made out with a chick behind a ramen shop?" Ken looked at him.

"Middle school was a different time," Junpei smiled, "… What about you Koromaru, and hot young… dogs you're… doing whatever dogs do that qualifies as dating?" Koromaru let out a loud bark and bag wagging his tail as he jumped up and down, "Thata boy!"

"I think he wants to go outside," Ken said as he was erasing most of the paper, messing up on a problem.

"Let's go Koro!" Junpei leapt up and headed towards the elevator, "Maybe we can meet some hot chicks outside. Chicks love animals Ken!" He and Koromaru left as Ken himself got up and headed downstairs to talk to Aigis about a problem.

Aigis was standing alone near the bottom as Labrys was being repaired on by a couple of scientists on the bottom level just below them and Mitsuru was examining the scanners with Fuuka.

"Hey Aigis, can I get your help on this integral," Ken asked, "I'm really stuck."

"Absolutely Ken," Aigis walked over to a small table with Ken, "Based on my analysis of the problem, the best way to go about it would be integral by parts."

"Oh! I forgot about that! Thanks Aigis," Ken began to scribble down the problem as Aigis got up to leave, "Hey Aigis, can I, uh, talk to you about something."

"Yes Ken?" she came back over.

"It's about Mitsuru-san," Ken blushed, "I wanted to give her a gift… to show how grateful I am for letting me stay here, that's all! I was wondering what sort of stuff she liked."

"Mitsuru enjoys designer clothes and expensive perfumes, I can print out a list of things she has used in the past if you wish," Aigis smiled.

"I was hoping for something more in the price range of a teenager," Ken said.

"Mitsuru has also shown interest in antique dolls," Aigis told him, "If you got her one she would be very appreciative of it."

"That's sounds great!" Ken smiled, "Just, don't tell Mitsuru, I want it to be a surprise."

"I understand," Aigis nodded as she walked back off.

Downstairs, Mitsuru was messing around with the console, "I don't understand," she said, "These readings are all off."

"Perhaps there's a malfunction with the machine, when I used my persona I couldn't detect anything," Fuuka told Mitsuru.

"Maybe," Mitsuru looked it over, "We'll have to debug it to see. It's going to take a few hours so remain vigi…" as Mitsuru went on a large alarm went off as the screen began to show a shadow appearance, "Fuuka!"

"On it! JUNO!" Fuuka held her evoker up to her head and fired, her persona appearing around her as she closed her eyes and began to search, "AH! I'm detecting a large shadow at Takeshi Stadium!"

"Shadow Operatives!" Mitsuru yelled, "Let's go!" Mitsuru hurried off with Aigis, Labrys, and Fuuka as Ken was waiting for them in the stealth helicopter, "Wait! Where's Junepi and Koromaru?"

"Outside," Ken said.

"WAIT! I'M HERE!" Junpei said over the comms, "I'm headed down the elevator right now!"

"It's too late Junepi," Ken said, "You can walk to the stadium."

"NO! DON'T LEAVE! IT'S ALMOST THERE!"Junpei yelled.

"Sorry Junpei, but…" Ken teased him.

"I'm here!" Junpei yelled as he was carrying Koromaru over his shoulders. He was running full speed to the landing pad. He took a dive into the chopper with Koromaru, "I'm not… walking…again!" he was panting.

"You ran like 35 feet Junpei!" Ken said, "Quit complaining." The group loading into the chopper as it took off.

"I've contacted Takeba and she will meet us there, and I've managed to get a hold of Akihiko," Mitsuru told the group.

"Is he back from his trip?" Junpei asked.

"Yes, but he is a ways out, he can meet us there is he gets the chance. Assuming we don't defeat the shadow by the time he arrives," Mitsuru said.

"I've detected a large presence at Takeshi stadium," Fuuka said, "Whatever it is, it seems to be inside at the center."

"Wouldn't be the first time we had to fight a giant shadow, "Junpei chuckled.

"Whatever it is, we must take care of it. And Junpei, try not to destroy anything again, the company is mad at me as it is and we can't afford to cause collateral damages like that."

"Can't afford? You're like super rich. You could rebuild the whole goddamn town if you want," Junpei said.

"Just… you know what I mean," Mitsuru grabbed a small case in the chopper and opened the door to a small storage room in the back, "I'm going to change." She closed the door and began to undress as she pulled out her skin tight black combat suit. She got dressed in it as she stepped out, carrying her large rapier in her right hand.

The chopper arrived outside the stadium, the sun almost completely gone from the horizon. The stadium was right new to the ocean; a nice view of the sparkling ocean was in sight just as you would leave the arena. The chopper set down in a plaza area as everyone unloaded while Fuuka stayed in the helicopter as support. As they walked towards the stadium, Yukari zoomed right up on her motorcycle, screeching to a halt as she kicked the stand down and tossed her helmet off.

"How many?" Yukari asked as she pulled her bow off the back of the cycle. She was dressed in her pink Neo-Featherman outfit, just getting off the set.

"Either one big one or a bunch congregating in a pile in the center," Mitsuru told her as they approached the doors, "Let's go," she said as she pulled on the door. It wouldn't budge an inch after Mitsuru pulled on it harder a second time.

"Labrys…" Yukari looked at her as Labry's lifted her hand and her index finger transformed into a lockpick. Labrys began to work on the door as the Shadow Ops waited.

"It's a tough sucka!" Labrys said, "Very complex locks for a public place! This could take a while."

"Damn, we need to get in!" Mitsuru said.

"Wait, let me bash the glass in!" Junpei held his bat up.

"No!" Mitsuru scolded him.

"You know, I'm sick of you bossing me around so much, so I'm going to do something I didn't want to do," Junpei tossed his bat down and rolled up his sleeves.

"Junepi, I don't know what you are thinking, but do not hit Mitsuru!" Yukari yelled.

"I'm going to do something much worse," he said evily as he walked right past Mitsuru, pushing the door open, "It's a push door stupid!"

"…" Mitsuru frowned.

"HA! Sucks to be outsmarted by Junpei! Doesn't it?" Junpei said.

"…You're an idiot," Yukari walked passed him inside. The crew made their way inside as they passed through the long cement hallways and made their way into the core of the stadium. Inside was a large soccer field, the grass as green as it could be and all the lights turned on. On the ceiling hung a large square cube that had large jumbotrons facing each side of the stadium. The Shadow Ops went down on the field as they searched for shadows.

"Fuuka, we aren't seeing any shadows," Mitsuru said, "Are you still detecting them?"

"Yes, a big one right in front of you," Fuuka told them.

"Maybe it's underground, like that tank thing in the bunker?" Yukari asked her.

"No, it's ground level," Fuuka responded.

"Wait! Is that it?" Junpei pointed to the center of the field. In the center, a small black blob was tumbling around like a ball on the grass.

"It can't be, the shadow was supposed to be huge," Ken said.

"Fuuka, you messed up!" Junpei said strolling over to the grass, "It's just a little baby shadow, look at this thing." Junepi approached it as he looked down, the shadow paying no attention to him as it continued to roll around, "I kinda feel bad for killing it, it's so small, but…" Junpei lifted his leg and stomped down on the shadow, the goop evaporating as he turned around and faced the rest of the group and walked towards them.

"I'm still detecting shadows," Fuuka said.

"I don't know what to tell you, but, that's it," Junpei told her, "I guess we can go home. Job well…" as Junpei was celebrating his victory a large blob of shadows fell down to the center again, the operatives all looking up as the screens above them began to drip of shadows.

"Oh, that…" Junpei pulled his evoker out, "Makes sense."

"Alright, just destroy the televisions again," Yukari said, "Not a problem."

"Yes…" Mitsuru frowned, thinking about the lecture she would receive for destroying those large screens. At least it wasn't that bad of damage to the stadium.

Just then the cube itself began to shift and come apart as two sides sprung far apart, stretching outwards as the other sides began to form a body of sorts. Wires began to rap themselves like veins around the figure and electricity shooting out as the television on the various parts of it still continued to pour out shadows.

" _Well, that's worse,"_ Mitsuru thought.

A head popped out of one end, with spot lights as eyes and four smaller television screens as teeth, two on top and two on bottom, like fangs. The creature scowled at them before letting out a huge roar and flapping it's wings, bringing up dirt and knocking all but Aigis and Labrys down.

"It's a giant… BAT!" Junpei screamed as it began to take off in the air. The bat flew around the stadium, dumping shadows all over the place before landing on the upper levels and standing like a gargoyle.

"ARTIEMISIA!" Mitsuru fired her gun as her persona flew out and shot ice at some approaching shadows.

"Trismegistus!" Junpei summoned as well as he ran out and began to bat shadows away with a few swings. The others followed in suit as they summoned their personas and began to keep the shadows at bay.

Meanwhile, Aigis and Labrys had climbed up to confront the bat itself. Labrys leapt up and began to beat away at the televisions, trying her best to break the screens without falling in. Aigis kept the bat distracted as she fired bullets at its head.

The monster screamed, flapping its wings and grabbing Aigis with its feet, it's claws made of broken sharp metal that scrapped against her body. The bat continued to flap around as Labrys managed to break two of the four main screens on the bat's back before it took off and started circling the arena and dumping more shadows.

"Damn it! It has Aigis!" Mitsuru said, "We have to bring that thing down! Yukari, can you pierce it's wing with an arrow?

"I think so," Yukari was trying to keep away from the falling shadows. She grabbed a large pink arrow with a heart shaped arrow head at the end and took aim, "Come here you son of a…" Yukari fired as the arrow soared a exploded on the bridge of where the wing was connected to the body. The bat fell down, it's wing still intact, but Aigis used the opportunity to pry itself free from the monsters grip.

"Labrys, Aigis! Take care of those last two screens!" Mitsuru commanded them as they began to fire everything they had at the bat and the screens. Soon, the entire arena was covered in smoke from all the weapons. The crew still fighting shadows as Aigis and Labrys joined them.

"Did we kill it?" Ken asked as Koromaru was growling into the distant black fog. Then, a huge gust of wind came forward, blowing all the smoke away as the bat stood right back up and began screaming.

"At least the screens are all broken!" Junpei said, "Come on you son of a bitch! Let's play ball!"

"CEASER!" a voice yelled in the distance as Ceaser flew forward and with one fell strike, took both wings of the end of the bat as it howled out in pain and collapsed onto the ground, scurrying around like a wounded animal.

"Akihiko!" Ken smiled as Akihiko walked forward to the group, dressed in a dark grey sweatshirt and shorts. He was the same as ever, quickly tossing his sweatshirt and shirt aside as he cracked his fists, "It looks like he isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Let's finish this." He said as the group began to get ready to finish off the creature.

Then, the creature let out one more howl as his back exploded, two shadowy wings like a demon began to flap, the bat flying around the stadium, tearing up all the seats as they tried to attack it with their personas and weapons again, but to no avail. Finally, after the stadiums seating and grounds were mostly destroyed it ripped upward through the ceiling and up to the night sky.

"It's getting away!" Mitsuru screamed as they sprinted as fast they could outside. The monster could do some real damages in the city, they needed to stop it soon. As they made their way outside, the bat hovered just over the bay as it looked back at The Shadow Ops. It let out one final scream as it dove head first into the ocean, disappearing.

"I can't detect it anymore!" Fuuka cried out, "It's… gone."

"Damn it!" Mitsuru said as she looked at the outside of the stadium. The creature had clawed its way all over the concrete, taking out huge chunks and tossing them on the ground.

"We should get back to base," Yukari bent over to catch her breath.

"Yeah… we, uh, should," Ken said as he was now fixated on the exposed parts of Yukari's chest from her Neo-Featherman outfit. She was so busty, all that smooth flawless king just pouring out of her tight tight tight outfit.

"KEN!" Yukari blushed as she caught him peeking.

"Huh?" Ken blushed as well, "I wasn't… uh…"

"Where could it have gone?" Akihiko wondered, "I doubt that's the last we'll see of it."

"I'm more concerned if it appears in The United States or Australia or Europe or South America," Mitsuru frowned again, "If so, we can't be there fast enough to protect it."

"We could station ourselves oversees, but I doubt one of us could take it on alone," Akihiko said.

"Thanks, Akihiko," Mitsuru said, "Glad to have you back… I have to make a call."

"Good to be back," he walked back towards the others as Mitsuru pulled her phone out and sat down on a bench looking out at the ocean.

"It's Mitsuru…" she sighed, "I'll… I'll marry Eiji Nanjo to save the company and for the deal you offered. I need The Seraph Project to happen." She hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket. Mitsuru pondered her future, looking at the bright white moon that hung in the sky. It was a full moon tonight; bad things always happen on full moons for Mitsuru.


	3. Chapter 3

***Chapter 3***

Mitsuru pressed her head on the glass door of the elevator as it slowly headed up to her room, it's cold touch cooling the remaining coating of sweat. Tonight had been a rough night for everyone, especially her. Not only did they fail at exterminating the main threat at Takeshi Stadium, but the stadium itself had been torn apart by a monstrous shadow, and Mitsuru was now forced into a marriage to save her failing company.

As soon as they arrived back at base, the news had been covering the events that had transpired for some time now. Luckily, by some miracle, no one seemed to notice the giant bat that flew out of it and into the sea, or at least anyone they hadn't gotten to first. The Kirijo Group was likely hard at work destroying any camera records and 'convincing' eye witness accounts of the shadow to avoid public knowledge of the existence of shadows. It was a necessary evil, at least until this was all over.

The elevator stopped and opened up to her floor, opening to a room filled with several of The Kirijo Board members who were dressed in suits awaiting her arrival. Mitsuru stepped out, still in her combat attire and exhausted from everything that had happened.

"Do you have any idea…" the pudgy board member waddled towards her.

"I know," she said dropping her rapier to the ground along with the belt that held her evoker, "But you have no idea what we had to fight back there."

"You and you're little gang destroyed an entire football stadium, and now we have every major media outlet in Japan saying that Japan was a victim of a terrorist attack," he continued to yell at her, "If you thought that the government support for your organization was dwindling now! Well…"

"A terrorist attack at 3 am, with no people inside the stadium," Mitsuru asked him, "… and you think people will really believe that?"

"They'll believe whatever we want them to believe," he laughed, "The average person isn't that smart and we have enough pull with The Japanese Intelligence community to spin this however we like Ms. Kirijo, or should I call you Mrs. Nanjo? I should thank you for finally coming to your senses and agreeing to the board's proposal."

" _Some romantic proposal,_ " Mitsuru joked to herself, "Are you sure he'll even agree to marry the heiress of a failing company?"

"We've managed to suppress most of our failures on a public level," he explained, "It's a lot worse than it seems to the major shareholders, but Eiji and those Nanjo bastards have been waiting for the day to get their hands back on this company since the day we left, no matter the cost."

"Not to mention is helps you are a fertile young attractive woman," another board member said as Mitsuru let out a slight grunt of disgust.

"Just tell me you'll hold up your end of the bargain," Mitsuru looked at the board members, "The Seraph Project."

"You'll get your little robot science experiment," the man said, "But we want that data to sell to The Americans!"

"What?" Mitsuru asked in shock.

"You can keep a few of those robots, but we want a few to sell for research purposes," he said, "Preferably Aigis and Labrys."

"No, you cannot have them," she told them.

"Very well, then no Seraph Project," he told her back.

"Then no marriage and the company goes down," Mitsuru said.

"Heh," the pudgy man walked over to her, "If that's what it will be then fine, we'll all find other jobs, our resumes and work experience are so much more than yours, will be fine. However, if wish to lose everything, including most of your family fortune and live like the rest of these people, I suggest you take a closer look and analyze if this bluff you are pulling right now is worth it."

"It's… It's worth more than losing my friends," Mitsuru said.

"It's those two, or nothing," he stared her down. Mitsuru was face with another choice: Either she would lose everything she had, all this wealth and the lifestyle she was accustomed to, or sell out two of her friends to potential keep everything and better yet, keep the world safe. What would they think of her, would they understand? Would Aigis or Labrys understand? What would happen to them?

"I… I need time to decide," Mitsuru said.

"No, now is decision time," he told her.

"That's unfair!" Mitsuru yelled.

"Life is unfair, if you're going to live in poor squalor, you will soon learn that," he told her.

"…" Mitsuru looked down, trying to decide, " _What would HE do? If he were in my shoes, would he make the same choice I made. He gave up his life for me, for all of us, so we could live… damn it!"_ Mitsuru looked back up, "I'll make you a counter-offer, and if I can produce several units for you by the end of quarter, you can have those… otherwise you may have Aigis and Labrys."

"No," the boardmember said.

"I PROMISE you that I can get you something more powerful than either of those two by then!" Mitsuru was almost on her knees pleading, "They are my friends… I can't give them up."

"Just let the girl keep her friends… for now," another board member spoke up to the group, "It's higly unlikely she'll produce working models by the end of the quarter…"

"Very well," the board member smiled, "he Seraph Project is officially on the books, and I will expect those results by the end of the quarter and if not… I'm sure your friends Aigis and Labrys will understand," He and the others began to walk off. Mitsuru simply stood in place as she hung her head. As soon as the elevator doors closed with the board members inside, Mitsuru fell to her knees and began to cry as loud as she could. What had she done, she sold her friends out for a better world, for her own personal greed. There were only a little more than two months until the fiscal quarter was up, there was no way they could produce working models in that amount of time, even with all the data, but she had to try. If she failed, how could she ever face her friends again.

"M-Mitsuru-san," a maid began to walk into the room as Mitsuru gasped and quickly collected herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mitsuru wiped her eyes, "I didn't know you were here."

"I have the bath ready for you," the maid walked over to her, "Do you need some time alone?"

"N-no, I would prefer not to be alone tonight," Mitsuru began to strip down and walked with the maid over to the bath were another maid was already in the tub waiting for her. Mitsuru was lowered down into the tub, being washed like a lifeless corpse by her two maids.

"Eiji Nanjo is a very attractive man, he'll make a wonderful husband and a wonderful father when the time comes," she tried to comfort Mitsuru who hadn't said a single word. The bath continued on until Mitsuru was dried off by her maids and walked over to bed.

"Goodnight master," the maid bowed as the two left the room. Mitsuru was still in a towel and tucked tightly in her bed. Mitsuru slowly rolled out of bed, dropping the towel to the ground as she made her way to the small bar in her room, grabbing the entire bottle of red wine and popping the cork and lying on her back in the middle of her bedroom and she began to chug the bottle.

The night droned on into the early day as Mitsuru began continued to drink away her sorrows.

" _It's not my fault,_ " Mitsuru said, " _It's the board's fault, they lead the company into its current state and forced my hand! Yeah, that's what I'll tell them. It's not my fault, they'll understand. They'll understand. I'm sure they will… for now, I need another drink."_ Mitsuru finished the last of her wine before closing her stinging red eyes and passing out.

That night Mitsuru dreamed she was back in high school, back during the summer of her third year when they all went to the beach together. She remembered swimming all day with her friends, exploring every inch underwater with them, playing games and having the most fun she could remember. God how she yearned for those days, a day where they could once again be all together and happy.

"Mitsuru-san," she heard a voice say, "MITSURU-SAN." Mitsuru slowly opened her eyes, the light hurting every part of her body as she rolled over and curled up into a ball, "Oh thank god you are alive…"

"Mmmm," Mitsuru moaned.

"It is currently 2:00pm," Kikuno told her, "Everyone is wondering where you are, especially the board."

"2!" Mitsuru looked up, "How did I sleep in so late?"

"Based on your nakedness and the two empty bottle of wine next to you, I presume you drank all night," Kikuno told her, "I can run a bath for you and send up the maids if you wish or I can leave you alone to continue to roll around in filth."

"No," Mitsuru slurred as she forced herself up, "Thank you for your service."

"It's my pleasure, I will leave you to bathe and dress yourself undisturbed," Kikuno told her as she bowed and left. Mitsuru soon after fell back down onto the ground, closing her eyes for another fifteen minutes of sleep, " _Two bottles… I swear I only drank one…_ "

 ***Gekkoukan Middle School ***

"GOOD HUSTLE! GOOD HUSTLE!" the young teenage woman in a track suit as the men began to cross the finish line of the track. Behind the lead pack was Ken, who was usually somewhere near the middle as always.

"Damn it!" he grunted as he halted himself onto the grass, falling down to catch his breath.

"Nice job Ken, that's three seconds above your last time," the girl came over to him.

"Thanks," Ken said between breathes in a disappointed tone, "It's still not enough."

"You've improved an awful lot this year, don't be so hard on yourself," she said as she handed him a small bottle of water.

"Yeah, he's gone from as slow as a snail to the pace of a turtle," the captain of the team came over with a couple others.

"Knock it off," the manager scolded him.

"Relax, it's only a joke, I'm just giving Ken some shit," he punched Ken in the shoulder, "Right Amada?"

"Yeah…" Ken stood up, raising his arms as high as he could and arched himself to make his back crack before getting up, "Let's get going…"

"You got somewhere to be?" the captain asked.

"No, I wanna get out of these sweaty clothes and into a nice hot shower," Ken said as he walked away from the track and towards the locker room.

 ***Paulownia Mall***

Ken walked slowly into Paulownia Mall; the place still looked the same after all these years. In the front stood a large fountain that was spewing water in a fantastic design. Just passed it was the exit to a back alley and Mandragora, the karaoke club. To his left was Club Escapade, the police station, Chagall Café with a waft of their pheromone Coffee in the air, and Be Blue V.

" _Jewelry, maybe Mitsuru likes jewelry. Girls all like nice necklaces and rings,"_ Ken thought to himself as he began to walk Be Blue V, " _Wait, I can't afford jewelry."_ Ken stopped himself and turned the other way. On the other side stood Game Panic, which Ken wanted to go into more than anything right now. Next to it was the Aohige Pharmacy, Power Records, and finally Shinshoudo Antiques.

" _Maybe an antique… no Mitsuru has no need for stuff like that, unless it's like antique classy things, but I can't afford that. Or maybe music. Mitsuru has to listen to some sort of music, but what? Rock, Pop, Alternative?"_ Ken was lost in thought. Eventually, after much debate, he decided that the best way to send a message was a CD of some sort.

He walked into the music shop to an almost empty room. Not very many people bought physical music these days with everything being digital or easy to download illegally online, but Ken wanted to give Mitsuru something physical to show his… appreciation. Ken walked over to the new releases, browsing for something that he thought she would like.

" _Rise Kujikawa has a new album_ ," he picked it up, " _She's very popular, I'm sure Mitsuru will like this… maybe…"_ Ken thought until another voice popped up in his head," _Ken, what the hell are you doing? She's years older than you, it'll never work out. Stop this stupid obsession!"_ Ken was in an internal battle with himself right now. He could not get Mitsuru out of his mind; everything about her was so amazing to him. Her gorgeous long red hair, the curves of her body, her voice, and those lips and eyes of hers were to die for, " _It's just a gift… to show my appreciation… that's all. You gotta stop this Ken!"_ Ken picked up the album to purchase, quickly making his way out of the store. He headed straight to the arcade, taking his mind off of a woman he could almost certainly never get and into a deep shoot'em up game.

After a few hours, the sky grew dark and Ken along with all the other students decided the best course of action was to head home. Ken hiked up his backpack and headed on out the door and ran to catch the nearest train. Ken's new home was The Shadow Operative's base, a far walk from both the school and the mall. Ken popped in a couple of ear buds, listening to some Jpop to pass the long train ride home. If this were a few years ago, Ken would have received a scolding from Fuuka and everyone else for staying out so late, especially with the dark hour, but now Ken was 15 years old and able to go out on his own.

As the train pulled into his spot, Ken dumped his mp3 player into his backpack, inside was some books and papers and his evoker, he never left home without it. With all the shadow activity lately, Ken was worried about getting jumped by a random shadow in the middle of a dark alley or something. Maybe Fuuka was right to worry about him, but it didn't matter right now. Ken moved his books aside, placing the CD for Mitsuru near the bottom so no one would see.

Ken left the train and began his usual few block hike to The Kirijo Headquarters located in Tatsumi Port Island. The neighborhood was a usual business district, with tall buildings and people running around in suits and distracted by their cell phones, you could say the same for every part of the city, except without the suits. Ken made his way to the Kirijo building, one of the tallest buildings in the city. At the very top, Ken could see the small balcony extending from where Mitsuru's penthouse was located. Ken went inside to a large marble welcome area, pulling out his ID which showed he was an 'intern' at the headquarters, an elaborate ruse designed by Mitsuru to hide his true nature.

Ken slid the badge into a nearby private elevator, taking it all the way down underground to the base. As the doors opened, Ken was greeted to the same old sight. Fuuka was busy in the kitchen area cooking while Koromaru simply sat by here hoping for some sort of treat. Junpei and Yukari were both here, Yukari sitting on a couch on the furthest platform from him while Junpei was lying on another couch on another platform playing a portable gaming console.

Ken walked up and over a few of the platforms till he reached a door that lead to his private bedroom. The room itself was bigger than the dorm rooms, but not by much. Ken had posters on the walls and dirty clothes in a pile near the door. He had his own private bathroom and shower, unlike the dorms where they had showers on each floor. Ken set his bag down on his bed, grabbing the CD and putting it into the drawer as quickly as he could. In his haste, he knocked down a few of the Neo-featherman action figures he had set up in a display at the top of the dresser. Ken quickly ran back out, hungry and wanting to talk to his friends.

"Fuuka, how long until dinner?" Ken asked her from one of the platforms, "I'm starved."

"It'll be about fifteen minutes," Fuuka smiled, "How was your day?"

"Fine," Ken said.

"Did you have any tests today? How was the track practice?" she asked.

"It was fine, no tests," Ken said as he walked away.

"Okay, I'll call you when it's ready," Fuuka shouted at him, "Ahh, the meatballs! They're burning!" she quickly pulled the pan off the oven, a few globs of sauce and meat falling right at her feet as Koromaru quickly dove for the treat.

Ken made his way to the area where Yukari was sitting, reading some sort of high fashion magazine. She was wearing the tightest pink t-shirt she possibly could have had with a cut at the mid-drift and a deep v-neck cut along with very very VERY short jean shorts with sandals, it reminded Ken of her swim suit she saw Yukari wear one time on accident.

It was back in the dorms; Ken was just passing by the girls floor, bored out of his mind when he came across Yukari's open door. Inside she was examining the swimsuit in the mirror, checking to see if there were any tears in it or something. Ken was so entranced that when Yukari spotted him, he simply let her kick him across the hall before slamming the door shut. After that Ken started to look at girls in a different light, not able to figure out what these feelings were until a few years later when it all became very clear what he felt and what he wanted to do.

"H-hey Yukari," Ken sat down next to her.

"Hey Ken," she looked over at him, "How was school?"

"Good… uh, how was school for you?" he asked back.

"Good, heading to hang out with a few of my friends from work in about an hour," she told him as she continued to read some article in the magazine. Yukari was very feminine and a role model to him in a weird way, she wasn't as motherly as Fuuka and he didn't feel the way about her the same way he felt about Mitsuru and was way more versed in the world than Aigis or Labrys, so naturally Ken felt she was the best candidate to talk to about girls.

"Yukari… can I ask you a question?" Ken asked.

"Sure," she said, still looking at the magazine.

"It's… It's about this girl I like… I've had feelings for her for a long time and…" Ken was immediately cut off by Yukari.

"Ken," she smiled at him, "Listen, I'm flattered that you feel that way about me," she put her hand on his shoulder, "And I understand that you are going through a very difficult period in your life. Puberty is a tough time and I know how hard it is to see all these women and just wanna…"

"N-NO!" Ken blushed, "I'm not talking about you!"

"OH!" Yukari blushed, "I just thought because the other day you were… staring at me and I thought that…" Yukari was fumbling all over here words.

"No! I don't think about you that way! I mean I do!" Ken was tripping all over the place now, "I mean, you're very attractive! You're not ugly!"

"Yeah, uh…" Yukari felt even more awkward now that Ken was seemingly admitting he had sexual feelings for her.

"No, it's a girl in my grade," Ken lied, "I just… well… to be honest with you she's a little older than me, a year to be exact! I really like her and I wanted a girl to give me advice. I tried to talk to Junpei about it, but he just told me that I need to give her a gift to show my affection and it was how he got girls."

"First off, Junpei never got any girls. He told the entire school in 8th grade he hooked up with a teacher back at his old school…" Yukari snorted, "Secondly, tell me about this girl, what does she like? What's her name even?"

"Mits-" Ken almost blurted out Mitsuru's name, "-y… her name is Misty, sorry."

"Misty?" Yukari said, "What does Misty like? What are her hobbies? Is she in any clubs or sports?"

"She… uh," Ken was trying to come up with both a lie that was believable, but related to who he was really talking about, "She's in…" Ken made a motion with his arms. He couldn't say fencing because the middle school had no fencing team at all, so maybe Yukari could fill in the blank.

"What are you doing?" Yukari queerly looked at Ken.

"It's uhhh…Tennis… she's really good with a tennis racket in the game. She's a fancy person who is kinda quiet in class, really smart! Really pretty," Ken was almost getting to close to Mitsuru's actual description.

"You should just talk to her Ken, find out what she likes, try to be her friend and maybe start studying together or just go out for a coffee or a movie together," Yukari said.

"Like what you and Minato use to do?" Ken asked as Yukari blushed again, but with a look of sadness in her face now, "Sorry…I…"

"No, it's fine," Yukari looked away. It was no secret to any of them Yukari and Minato had been very close with each other. While they did keep their relationship on the down low, the amount of time they spent together along with the fact Akihiko and Junpei caught Minato leaving her bedroom was enough to warrant a reasonable assumption that they were together. The moment of revelation however was the stakeout he, Akihiko, Junpei, and Koromaru did one day when the two left the dorms together and checked themselves into that seedy hotel Junpei and Akihiko did not want to talk about with Ken, "I've accepted he's gone, but not forgotten. He… would've wanted that" She smiled with memories running through her eyes.

"Dinner!" Fuuka shouted.

"Alright!" Junpei hopped up off his couch, "Chow time!"

"I think I'm gonna head out now," she got up, "I hope it all works out for you Ken. The main thing is confidence, confidence is the key to charm and women love a man with charm." Ken watched her walk away, the sight astounding to him how provocative Yukari was dressed and walked; it sent his testosterone production into overdrive. Ken eventually collected himself and went over to the table to eat with Junpei.

"Uhh…" Junpei stabbed a meatball with his knife, a large crunch sound coming as he peeled apart the dry meatball.

"Is it burnt?" Fuuka asked ready for disappointment.

"No! No no no… just a little dry," Junpei nervously chuckled as he dipped the meat into his water when Fuuka wasn't looking.

"Akihiko! Dinner! You can stop training now!" Fukka yelled down to the bottom floor where he and Aigis were boxing while Labrys watched.

"Training!" Akihiko took a right jab at Aigis which sailed right passed her, followed by a missed left uppercut, "Damn." He continued to relentlessly throw punches at Aigis who swerved around every move.

"My dodging trajectories can be computed and altered by the nanosecond," Aigis said to Akihiko who continued to punch, "This is perhaps an ineffective way to train Akihiko-senpai."

"No it isn't," Akihiko grunted as he wound up for a large right punch, but faked out for a short left jab which Aigis easily dodged again.

"That was the forty-third time you've tried that maneuver," Aigis told him.

"Yeah," he bent over, completely out of breathe.

"Why you tryin to beat Aigis' head in?" Labrys said, "She said she's a machine! A human can't beat a machine, not ones like us designed to fight!"

"Human error always triumphs over machines," Akihiko said still panting for breath, "Someday you'll slip up, you dumb peace of silicon rock!"Akihiko fell over onto the ground.

"Silicon only comprises 7.892 percent of my body. Most of it is a specifically designed alloy of various metals designed to…"

"Enough blabbin!" Labrys pushed Aigis out of the way to grab Akihiko, "It's dinner time! Gotta go recharge your batteries!" Labrys pushed Akihiko away, "Get that protein you and that green jacketed girl liked to talk about!"

 ***Somewhere just outside of town***

Yukari sped down the lonely road, the clock on her motorcycle reading just under midnight as she made her way to the only lit building on the block. She skidded into a park near a bunch of other cycles and cars. She hopped off, grabbing a small little purse before quickly running towards the door to the apartment building before buzzing.

"Who is it?" a gruff voice said over the intercom.

"It's Yukari…" she annoyingly spoke back, hopping around in place.

"Oh!" the gruff voice turned to a normal young man's, "Come on right up." The door buzzed to unlock as Yukari bolted in and up the worn old stairs to the third floor where the party was happening. The music was loud as a bunch of voices could be heard from all over the floor. The apartments on the third floor were owned by acquaintances of friends of Yukari's from work, not as well off as her or her celebrity friends, but with all the connections because of one little thing.

"There she is, the pink featherwoman herself, Yukari Takeba," a man in a dirty brown rock band t-shirt and blue athletic shorts greeted her, "Damn you are looking sexy!"

"Cool it Kaz," she said as she walked over to him at a fast pace, "Are the others here?"

"They're waiting on you!" he said as he pointed to a back room. She quickly ran over to the room, the rest of the neo-featherman cast sitting around a large coffee table waiting for her.

"God Takeba!" the man who played the red featherman yelled, "We've been waiting for twenty fuckin minutes!"

"I know! I know!" she plopped down next to him and grabbed her purse and quickly began to count off money on the table, "38…39…40,000 yen!" she pushed it to Kaz who was now counting it again.

"Damn it Kaz, just fuckin get the coke!" the fat kid who played the yellow featherman yelled at him, "I need it!"

"Hold your horses!" he walked out of the room. It seemed like an eternity before he came back with seven small bricks of cocaine for each of them.

"Oh my god," the red one gasped, poking the package open with his car key and quickly doing what was known as a key shot, in which usual in your car you would take a small snort of cocaine of the end of your key while driving, "Oh god that's good!"

Yukari tore hers open and quickly pulled out a 100 yen bill and snorted straight off the pile. As soon as she was done, Yukari was officially in heaven and forgot about all her troubles.

To start off with, Yukari never had used drugs before the past year and half or so, but the stress of losing the man she loved, a full time college career, and a full time job as a television star made her both exhausted and depressed. As her grades started to slip and she found herself barely getting any sleep, Yukari turned to what her co-stars had turned to, Cocaine, in order to ease the pain and it worked perfectly. Yukari would take a small hit every morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening if she had to study or party, otherwise she would crash and could finally get to sleep, plus she found herself able to pay attention and do homework and give it her all during filming. For Yukari, and the entire cast of the featherman rangers, their secret power wasn't friendship, but cocaine.

"Oh my god!" Yukari almost collapsed back, "…" Yukari was now wide awake and ready for a night of partying with the others, "Whatarewedoing?" she asked quickly.

"Some shots," the man playing the black ranger handed her a shot of saki.

"Here's to us! Neo-feathermen go!" they all said together giddy as possible. Yukari looked over at the red ranger and clinked glasses before taking the shot.

 ***Around 5 am***

"Oh god," Yukari cried out as she was being taken from behind by the red ranger, "You feel so good inside of me! Go deeper!" Yukari's night had proceeded as it normally did at these parties. First she drank some alcohol after doing the coke. Danced, then did a little more coke, danced some more and the cycle repeated until most people left the apartment and whichever featherman was closest to her at the end of the night she took into the nearest bedroom and had drug and alcohol induced sex with.

"Just," he said as he grabbed her shoulders and stuck his nose deep into her lower back. Two small mounds of cocaine were strategically placed right on here dimples of venus for him to snort. He quickly devoured both little piles before getting back to business, "Oh god… you like that?"

"I do!" she cried out in drug filled euphoria.

"Whose your daddy?" he said.

"You're my daddy! Fuck me daddy!" Yukari shouted.

"Whose Daddy's bad little girl?" he was pulling on her hair now.

"I am. I Daddy's bad little dirty whore daughter! Just like Mommy!" Yukari said, "OH my god I'm close!"

"I'm gonna… I'M GONNA!" he cried out, "Arugh…ahhhhhhh! Yeahhhhh." He let out all the air in his lungs before passing out right next to Yukari who had let out her final groans too. Yukari rolled over onto her back, the red featherman now unconscious after unprotected, cocaine filled sex with his female cast member.

"Hahahaha," Yukari let out a few small giddy giggles from the drug, "That was amazing…I love you….Minato," she curled up next to him, the cocaine making her able to forget all the troubles of her modern life. Cocaine had one added side affect for Yukari, whenever she went to sleep after a dosage she had the best dreams of her life. She imagined being with Minato, memories of them together and a perfect future with kids and a simple little cottage in the countryside, like Inaba. There were no shadows, no monsters, no paparazzi, just the two of them in a perfect world.

 ***The next afternoon***

"Shouldn't you be studying?" Ken looked over at Junpei who was still messing around on his gaming device. Ken was studying his Calculus textbook for exams that were soon to come.

"I study at night," Junpei said, "Why study now and go to bed when you can play now and study later and then go to bed?"

"That doesn't make sense," Ken said.

"That would also explain Iori's extremely poor test scores," the two looked over to see Mitsuru walked to both of them.

"Where have you been?" Junpei asked, "We haven't seen you in two days. We were getting worried about you."

"I've been attending to company business," Mitsuru explained.

"Booooring," Junpei groaned, "What about the shadows? We haven't heard anything since the incident. Did that giant bat-thing fly show up yet?"

"According to Fuuka, no," Mitsuru said, "We haven't had a single detection of shadow activity anywhere in the world."

"What happens if it shows up in America or Europe or something?" Ken asked.

"Hopefully we are able to contain it," Mitsuru sighed, "Luckily for us shadow activity appears to be isolated within Japan, but with that thing in the ocean it could show up anywhere in the world now. We have our sensors running 24/7 to make sure we are ready, so be on alert whenever possible."

"Great…" Junpei groaned, "As if I don't have enough stress in my life. We have tests you know? Social lives!"

"Maybe you should study?" Ken asked.

"I'll do it later!" Junpei whined as he fell back with his game on the couch. Mitsuru let a slight smirk come to her face as she turned away to attend to more business. As she did, the elevator door opened to reveal Yukari, still dressed in her clothes from yesterday with sunglasses on and a large coffee in her hand.

"Good afternoon Yukari," Mitsuru said to her.

"Yeah…afternoon…" Yukari yawned out, "If you don't mind, I need a nap right now." Yukari quickly hurried off. Mitsuru suspected Takeba had just come back from one of her all night benders with her celebrity friends, drinking and dancing. Yukari was usually fine after a good night's sleep, back to her usual cheerful self.

"Looks like somebody was all out at the club last night!" Junpei shouted.

"Mmm," Yukari made a noise towards Junpei to shut him up before retiring to her bedroom.

"She is so goddamn hungover," Junpei laughed, "Must be nice, being the famous sexy pink featherman and adored by every teenage boy in the world."

"Do you 'adore' her?" Ken asked.

"Yukari wants me, can't say I blame her, most women do, but we lead different lives! Come from distant lands with different cultures, it just wouldn't work out," Junpei proclaimed proudly.

"Oh my god shut up Iori!" Akihiko yelled from down bellow.

"Captain Protein over here is just jealous because he's never had a girlfriend!" Junpei said.

"That's not true!" Akihiko yelled back again.

"It is so true!" Junpei was now in a shouting match with Akihiko, "You haven't even kissed a girl!"

"That's…pfft," Akihiko ignored him, now slightly blushing, "Girls are just weird."

"See that Ken," Junpei sat down next to Ken, "If you don't get a girlfriend soon, that's what you're gonna end up like. Just a lonely dude in a basement playing with video games," Junpei resumed his portable gaming device.

"…It's a training simulator, not a video game," Ken said, "That's a video game," he pointed at Junpei's device, "And you're in a basement… and alone."

"No, I'm not in the basement!" Junpei defended, "I'm on a couple floors above it! And I said lonely, not alone, I've got plenty of female company. So knock it off."

"Make me," Ken teased.

"Go ask that Misty chick you were talking about with Yukari the other day! You got her number?" Junpei asked.

"Well, yeah, but…" Ken stuttered.

"You're basically there! She gave you her number! Now go freaking ask her out to a movie!" Junpei shoved Ken off the couch. Ken took the hint; maybe it was time to give Mitsuru the gift. Ken hurried off to his room with a stomach full of butterflies.

Mitsuru made her way down to the very bottom of the base, the scientists working on Aigis and Labrys in their daily routine maintenance. Aigis and Labrys both in sleep mode in their chairs. Fuuka was assisting them as well.

"Aigis' chassis has a small rust build up under the armor right above her right leg," Fuuka said looking at Aigis with a small detector.

"We'll have to make a new one eventually, we lack the parts to replace it for her," a female scientist said, "We are running exceptionally low on parts for both Aigis and Labrys… Mitsuru-san, perhaps you could requisition the board for some more funding and parts for us?"

"I have and we will receive some additional funding," Mitsuru said, "…Fuuka, may I speak with you in private?" Fuuka and Mitsuru made their way to another end of the basement floor, alone from everyone.

"Mitsuru?" Fuuka looked over to see Mitsuru smiling.

"I've managed to convince the board to give us more funding, specifically for a certain project," Mitsuru told Fuuka, "The Seraph Project."

"The Seraph Project?" Fuuka asked as Mitsuru pulled out a couple of folded pieces of paper for her.

"It's a project designed to create more anti-shadow suppression units, just like Aigis and Labrys, but these are based on the seraphs, the highest angels in god's kingdom," Mitsuru was smiling now, "Imagine it, an army of angels that could maintain the peace we know today, forever."

"More anti-shadow suppression units?" Fuuka was looking over the papers, "How?"

"We have funding, and the blueprints," Mitsuru told them all, "We have two working models right here we can use to model them after!"

"This seems like a bad idea," Fuuka said straight out with all her courage, "Labrys was hacked and attacked all of us, what would keep someone from hacking theses models."

"I've been researching that as well, we can install a kill switch that if something was to happen; the machines can be shut down. Something that can't be hacked, something we control," Mitsuru seemed to scoff at the suggestion, "A code that only someone would know and could activate…you."

"Me?" Fuuka was almost stunned.

"Fuuka, you are brilliant with electronics and have worked with all these scientists since the day you came here. There's no one I would trust more than you to help with this project," Mitsuru said.

"Do you really think that these machines can save us?" Fuuka asked.

"You saw what we faced back at that stadium," Mitsuru put her hand on Fuuka's shoulder, "We can't give up our lives to run around the world chasing something like that! Even if, no, WHEN we kill it, what happens then? Another one comes and then another. I can't continue to do this to Ken, to Junpei, to Yukari, to you! We have lives to live; this program will allow us to live a normal life."

"And what happens when the machines aren't enough?" Fuuka looked at Mitsuru.

"We are the last line," Mitsuru told her, "You have to trust me that this will work. I promise you."

"I trust you," Fuuka reassured Mitsuru, "But, how do you manage to convince the board of this? It's insanely expensive to make anti-shadow suppression units."

"…" Mitsuru looked away, "Promise not to tell anyone yet, but the board wishes for me to marry Eiji Nanjo."

"What?" Fuuka gasped, "You're getting married?"

"Eiji still has to agree to it, but yes," Mitsuru said, "Our companies will merge and I will be the heiress to The Nanjo Corporation… until we have a child."

"That's…wow!" Fuuka smiled, "I can't wait for the wedding! I love weddings!" Fuuka was lost in thought until she returned to Mitsuru's uncomfortable face, "Are you okay with this?"

"I am," Mitsuru nodded, "Minato gave up his life to let world live, I'm doing the same thing in a way. It's what he would do in my shoes."

"I'm sure he would be proud," Fuuka smiled as she began to barrage Mitsuru with questions of the marriage and the arrangement.

"M-M-Marriage," Ken said to himself. He was spying on the two from the platform directly above them, having overheard their conversation while passing with the wrapped gift in hand. Ken thought maybe she would be talking about something to give him a better insight into her life, but now he wished he hadn't listened.

The words became blurs in his ears as his eyes filled with tears, not wanting to cry right there, he tucked the CD into the back of his pants and scurried as fast as his feat could carry him to his room. He was looking down, trying not to attract suspicion as he kept bumping into railings.

"Hey Ken…" Junpei looked up, "Are you…okay?"

"S-S-She-she," Ken looked up completely sobbing at Junpei, "Mits-Misty-S-SHE'S NOT GONNA GO OUT WITH ME!"

"Ahh…uh…" Junpei was at a loss for words, he faced a fair amount of rejection, but he never cried over a girl rejecting his advanced, "Better luck next time?"

"Wahh!" Ken started bawling as he ran to his room and slammed the door shut, locking it from behind. Ken began to run a scalding hot shower before stripping down and sobbing as loud as he could. He took the gift out of his pants, ripping the wrapping paper off and breaking the case open before slamming the CD as hard as he could against the wall. He collapsed and curled up in the shower, crying over something he knew would happen. He should've listened to that voice in his head; it was truly a stupid idea.


	4. Chapter 4

***Chapter 4***

 ***One Month Later***

"Be careful with that!" Mitsuru scolded the deliverymen of The Kirijo Group as the carelessly threw a crate off of the truck, "There are very sensitive electronics in those parcels!"

"Yes madam," one of the men seemed to give her a partially sarcastic remark, lost on Mitsuru. Mitsuru nodded and walked away towards Fuuka who was at a terminal examining some data on both Aigis and Labrys, "These men are very oblivious to how important this technology is."

"I know, I remember ordering some parts for my computer and they were all busted when they finally showed up," Fuuka reminisced, "I had to reorder them and everything. Took forever to get that new SSD, but it's so worth it. Super fast and…" Fuuka stopped as soon as she saw a complete look of disinterest of the subject in Mitsuru's eyes.

"If they damage any of these parts I'll have them replaced before they arrive at work tomorrow," Mitsuru looked back at them.

"How many trucks like these are we expecting?" Fuuka asked, "This is the second one today and It's barely four in the morning."

"A good dozen or more," Mitsuru smiled, "Aigis and Labrys are in for an upgrade in both firmware and hardware."

"Oh! Does this mean we can go through with my design?" Fuuka's eyes lit up.

"Design?" Mitsuru asked.

"Oh… you didn't know," Fuuka frowned as she turned back to her computer as she pulled up a file with some designs on it, "It's a digestive tract! Labrys and Aigis could eat like a normal human being and the food would just end up being burned in an engine in their stomach and vented via their back thrusters.

"What sort of energy output would we see from this?" Mitsuru asked.

"…None… I just thought they would want to be able to taste food like the rest of us," Fuuka looked at Mitsuru, "Specifically…my, cooking."

"As much as I appreciate the creativeness behind your invention, I don't think that we'll go through with it. What I was thinking more specifically was a weapons upgrade… along with an interesting design that I found while digging through our old friends Seraph's Files."

"What is it?" Fuuka asked, still disappointed her invention was a no-go.

"It would allow them to not only fly higher and faster, but fly through the air at around Mach 10," Mitsuru told Fuuka, "They'd take on a more aerodynamic form and be able to quickly travel around the earth… maybe even space."

"Space requires over twice that speed," Fuuka said, "Plus, the two would burn up on re-entry almost immediately if you wanted I'm sure The Kirijo Group could spare some money for a space project after they merge with The Nanjo Group."

"Yes, that makes sense," Mitsuru continued to watch the men unload the truck, making sure they didn't damage any more of the equipment.

"Are you excited?" Fuuka asked Mitsuru.

"For what?" Mitsuru turned back around.

"For the wedding of course," Fuuka said, "You are still getting married to Eiji Nanjo?"

"Oh yes, I haven't met with him yet or with the executives of The Nanjo Group, but apparently they are quite pleased with the offer," Mitsuru told her.

"But are you excited?" Fuuka seemed to be jumping in place, "It'll be a beautiful wedding with doves and flowers and cake!"

"I'm sure it will be very extravagant," Mitsuru said as she continued to avoid eye contact. Deep down, she regretted her choice, but knew she had no other choice. Her father and mother married for business reasons and they learned to get along, at least until her mother's mental state degraded and her father's death.

"Today is Ken-kun's birthday!" Fuuka gasped, "I almost forgot to tell you! We're having a party tonight, I'm baking a cake!"

"It's his birthday?" Mitsuru asked, " _Damn, how could it have slipped my mind?"_

"Indeed, he's turning sixteen years old today," Fuuka said, "Next spring he'll be starting his first year at Gekkoukan High."

"Seemed like just yesterday he was that little kid hanging out at the dorms with us," Mitsuru smiled at the memories, "He's grown up into quite the young man." As the two women continued to talk amongst themselves, Ken was locked away in his room sleeping. It was very early in the morning; his alarm had not gone off yet.

Ken over the past month had isolated himself in his room whenever he could, completely depressed after learning of the news of Mitsuru's marriage; he lost all hope in lots of things. He couldn't explain it, but he had been infatuated with her for quite some time now and now that stupid dream of his was over.

On top of all of Ken's sorrow, his hormones at the moment were in what he could only consider to be the human bodies Orgia Mode. Every night he had the most wonderful dreams of his female companions: Fuuka, Yukari, Aigis, Labrys, Kikuno, and even Mitsuru; sometimes more than one at a time. These dreams were so vivid and so pleasurable to Ken that he wished he'd never wake up. However, they all ended the same, Ken waking up drenched in sweat and his sheets and clothes soiled with stains of his own making.

At the moment, Ken was sunbathing nude on a tropical and isolated beach with a nude Yukari and a nude Fuuka. Both of them cuddled up next to Ken, one on each side.

"Oooo Ken!" Fuuka tightened her grasp around his waist with her legs, "You're so soft."

"He's so handsome too!" Yukari nuzzled her fact against his cheek, grabbing a bottle of water next to them to drink it. The two women ran their hands all over Ken's body.

"Ladies please!" Ken was laughing, "There's enough to go around!"

"I think Ken-kun likes it!" Fuuka laughed, rubbing her hands around his body harder.

"Wow!" Ken was breathing very heavily now as Yukari's hands moved down lower.

"I think Ken-kun is going to pop!" Yukari giggled as she pointed the water bottle towards his face.

"I…I'm…" Ken stuttered as Yukari squeezed the bottle as hard as she could and the entire bottle exploded in his face, the two women gigging in complete ecstasy every time a shot of water hit Ken in the face.

Ken shot up, the dream was over again. As he sat in the darkness, the cold reality set in while he caught his breath. He was never on a beach; he was never with any naked woman. He was still just a fifteen year old boy, not a man. Ken looked over at his clock, two minutes from when it would go off.

Ken looked down and lifted his sheets, "Shit, not again!" he fell backwards, this must have been the twentieth time in a row he's done this now. Luckily the maids were very discrete and understanding about it. He rolled out of bed, taking off his boxers and tossing them into the hamper and walking into the shower to clean himself up.

As Ken cleaned himself, he remembered that today was his sixteenth birthday, but it really didn't matter. It wasn't like he could drive a car or vote or was a citizen in the eyes of the government. He was no man, just a boy. As the hot water washed his sweat off, he wondered what was in store for the day, what did his friends have planned.

He stepped out of the shower and got dressed, grabbing his sheets and putting them into a pile next to his hamper, it was the least he could do for the maids. He walked outside of his room, seeing the familiar base and unfamiliar crates everywhere.

" _What the hell is with all these crates?"_ he wondered as he made his way down to the eating area where a maid, specifically Kikuno, was making some oatmeal for Ken.

"Good morning Master Ken," she bowed as he sat down at the table, putting his head down. Kikuno took the pot and put it on an unlit burner and walked over to Ken, "If you are not offended, may I ask if you had another accident?"

"…" Ken grunted, "…Yes."

"I'll send a maid to clean your clothes and sheets," she told him, "It's only natural for a boy your age."

"A boy my age shouldn't have this happen every night," Ken sadly told her, "If someone found out, I'd be a laughing stock."

"We are sworn to complete confidentiality in our duties," she reassured him, "Nobody will know, I promise you this." Kikuno poured a bowl for Ken and placed it with a glass of milk in front of him, "Now eat up, you are a growing SIXTEEN year old boy."

"Boy…" he silently scoffed under his breath before taking a bite of his oatmeal. He finished his breakfast very quickly, saying his goodbyes to Koromaru and running off to the train and then off to school. School wasn't that fun for him anymore.

Lectures dragged on as usual. Integral Calculus, Advanced English, Classical Japanese Literature, Optical Physics, and so on the lectures went on and on. Ken was on a very advanced course, not that it was any trouble for him. He was an honor student, Mitsuru and the others so proud of it.

After school was finally over, Ken went to the one place where he felt that he could obtain a clear mind: Track and Field. Everyone was practicing for their big meet in a month, it would be held at Seven Sisters High School and the top competitors of that meet would go to an even larger meet at the newly repaired Takeshi Stadium where a huge national competition would be held later in the year. Ken would love to go, but it was unlikely at the moment he would make it as a participant rather than a spectator with the other students.

Ken was in the 500 meter race and was doing fairly well, but was always in the middle of the pack. Currently Ken was in fourth, trailing far behind with the rest of the pack from the front three. The 500 meter run would take the top three runners in their heat against the other schools to the nationals.

"Let's go!" the coach shouted at them as they crossed the finish line, "Come on! I've seen you all run faster than that! You can do better!" As Ken crossed the finish line he ran right onto the sidelines and collapsed with the others in the grass.

"All right! Good job guys!" one of the coach assistants ran over to them, "You're totally going to win next month!"

"No we aren't!" one of the runners gasped out, "We're so far behind the other runners."

"I agree," Ken said panting like a dog, "I'm never going to win."

"Of course you guys can win!" she said, "You can do anything if you put your mind to it!"

"It's not a question of willpower, it's a question of muscle and strength and endurance!" Ken defended.

"Yes, but when push comes to shove, if you believe you can win you will win!" she looked over Ken, "I remember back in elementary school when you were super short and everyone picked on you, but you believed you would grow one day and now you have." The other teammates began giggling at Ken, remembering how short he was for his age.

"You ass," he sighed.

"Give the kid a break," one of the teammates said, "It's Ken's sixteenth birthday."

"Sixteen!" she squealed, "Happy Birthday Ken!" she picked him up.

"Alright! Knock off the horseplay!" the coach yelled, "Line back up! We're running again!" They picked themselves back up and ran the same 500 meters over and over again until their legs felt like jelly. By the end of the day, Ken could barely stand in the shower with the others, people almost toppling over.

"Hey Ken!" a kid walked in with a twisted up wet towel. As Ken looked over he whipped it right at Ken's butt and left a huge red gash on it.

"What the hell dude?!" Ken hopped away.

"Birthday present for the birthday boy!" he laughed as the others began to laugh as a few joined in. Ken quickly grabbed a towel for himself as the entire locker room soon erupted in what could only be described as a naked bar fight with towels. Kids were slamming each other into lockers, whipping towels left and right at each other.

"What the hell is going on in here?" the coach ran in to see the sight of the locker room ball, "Stop this madness!" he yelled, everyone immediately stopping and dropping their towels, "Who started all of this?"

"Amada sir!" one kid yelled.

"Bullshit! It wasn't me, they attacked me, I just defended myself!" he yelled at the kid.

"You know what? I don't care, if anyone does this shit again I'll throw you off the team!" he yelled, "Now get dressed." As the coach left some of the boys began to laugh as Ken delivered one last whip to the kid who started it all.

"God damn!" he yelped out, "Ohh! That was a big one!"

Ken chuckled as he made his way to his locker. His body, especially his ass was covered in red bruises from the towels, not that anyone would be looking of course. He got dressed in his school uniform again, grabbed his backpack, and headed for home.

The trip was quick, excited to get home and get to bed, he had a long and exhausting day. Ken went down to the base in the usual small elevator, opening it to the same old room. He couldn't see anybody around, maybe they were all out, or maybe…"

"Surprise!" Aigis yelled as she flew up into the air and fired a couple of shots at the ceiling, exploding and sending a huge shockwave across the lab.

"FIRE DETECTED, ACTIVATING DOUSING SYSTEM!" the virtual interface for the lab rang out and began to spray white foam all over the place.

"Dammit Aigis!" Junpei yelled as he popped up from behind the couch.

"The cake!" Fuuka was still ducking behind some furniture, covering the cake she made with her entire body.

"Aigis! When I said fireworks I meant the small sparkler fireworks we installed in you!" Mitsuru scolded Aigis who was floating in the air.

"I apologize, firework in all of my previous circumstance meant to use explosives, I will update my data banks to understand this human idiom," she said.

"It's a little late for that," Yukari was under a table. As the group waited for the system to go off, the lab was soon covered in a thick blanket of foam that looked and felt like soap bubbles in a bathtub. Fuuka carried the cake over to the table they had set up, trying not to get any of the foam on the actual cake.

"This stuff isn't toxic to eat?" Junpei looked around.

"In large doses," Mitsuru said.

"There's none on the cake… I think," Fuuka looked it over as the others were trying their best to wipe away the foam from around the dining area. The cake was white except for the words 'Happy Birthday Ken' in red frosting written in the center and two candles in the shape of a one and a six on it. Fuuka lit the candles again as the gathered around the table.

"So, do we sing or somethin'?" Labrys asked.

"Oh right!" Fuuka gasped, "Happy Birthday to you!" soon the others all joined in, "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear Ken.! Happy Birthday to you!" the all clapped and Ken blew out the candles.

"What did you wish for Ken?" Yukari asked.

"Yukari, He's not supposed to tell! Then it won't come true," Junpei teased her.

"Oh whatever, like it'd come true anyways," Yukari laughed as the others looked at her, "What? Too harsh?"

"A little," Akihiko told her. The group ate some cake and began to talk with each other, having a nice long talk together was something they hadn't done for a while now and it was something they all wanted.

"Any big plans for sixteen Ken?" Junpei asked.

"Not really," Ken said.

"Come on, your only sixteen once, you'll be starting High School next year, and soon college," Fuuka smiled, "Do you know what you wanna do when you grow up?"

"No," Ken said.

"Well you've got time," Fuuka smiled.

"I'm glad you're over that Misty chick though," Junpei said, "For a while you were bumming us all out."

"…" Ken looked down, he had almost forgotten about all that with everything that had happened today, but now thanks to Junpei the wounds opened up again and now Ken was depressed yet again.

"Oh wow, thanks Junpei!" Yukari stared at him.

"What? I thought he was over it!" Junpei gave out a nervous laugh.

"You don't see us bringing up Chidori every day to you," Yukari told him as Junpei's face twitched with an ache of sadness.

"That's enough you two," Mitsuru said.

"That was really mean of me, I'm sorry Junpei," Yukari said, "I just… need some air."

"It's okay," Junpei apologized, "I know you just lost your temper there for a second."

"Yeah, no problem," Yukari itched her arm; "I'm going to use the restroom really quick," Yukari quickly sped away from the group.

"So, you dated a girl named Misty?" Mitsuru asked Ken.

"Huh," Ken looked over at her. Now things were getting interesting, Mitsuru was asking about herself, but didn't know it, "No… just a girl I liked."

"What was she like?" Fuuka asked, "You never really told us."

"What was she like?" Ken quickly stole a glance at Mitsuru, "She was smart and beautiful and… really… perfect."

"She wasn't perfect," Junpei said, "Everyone has flaws, but that's what makes them perfect I guess, flaws and all."

"She rejected you?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yes," Ken told her, "I asked her out and she said no and that she just wanted to be friends."

"There are always other women," Junpei put his arms around the back of his head, pushing his chair slightly back on its back legs, "Right Akihiko?"

"Yes… yes, that is accurate," Akihiko was distracted, "I should get back to my training. Aigis? Labrys? Care to join?"

"I'm afraid they'll need routine maintenance today," Fuuka said, "Along with some upgrades."

"Damn," Akihiko said.

"Why are you always training?" Ken asked, "You are very muscular already and a skilled boxer, aren't you tough enough?"

"You can always be tough, plus I don't want to get fat and lazy or rusty," Akihiko flexed his muscles.

"I can't see Akihiko fat, too weird," Fuuka giggled.

"Akihiko used to be a chubby child," Mitsuru told them, "I have photos if you wish to see them."

"Mitsuru!" Akihiko blushed.

"You're lying!" Junpei chuckled, "That cannot be real."

"Even if it were true, I changed for the better," Akihiko told them all, "Besides, training is good for you. Don't you have a big track meet next month?"

"Yeah, but I doubt I'll win, I'm just not fast enough," Ken sighed.

"Nonsense!" Akihiko said, "You just need to train harder and more often!"

"I ran almost ten miles today, isn't that enough?" Ken groaned.

"If you think it's enough," Akihiko asked, "Do you?"

"I guess not, but I just don't know what to do to improve," Ken said.

"Work harder! Believe in yourself!" Akihiko said, "You think I became a master boxer or Mitsuru became an expert fencer or Fuuka became so good at computer stuff or Junpei became…" Akihiko struggled to find the right words, Junpei staring him down.

"A… good…" Fuuka was trying to think of something, but drew a blank.

"A man with a good sense of… "Mitsuru chimed in, "…Attendance," she said unsure of what she even said.

"I cannot believe you guys!" Junpei shot up and walked away, "Jerks."

"Point being, it takes hard work to master anything, but you can do it can, we believe in you," Akihiko smiled.

"I guess I never thought about it like that, I just don't like really hard work deep down," Ken confessed, "But maybe I could be faster and stronger and even master a new fighting style," Ken smiled ear to ear, "Wait… where's Koromaru?" the group looked over to see Koromaru rolling around in the white foam like it was snow. They all let out a small group laugh as they watched their favorite dog's silly antics.

 ***The next day***

"Alright, time to master a new weapon…" Ken was standing around the empty track in the back of the middle school. Practice was over, and with a new goal and motivation in mind, he was doing slightly better than yesterday. It wasn't much, but maybe Akihiko was onto something.

On the ground, Ken had laid out several items he had gathered from the track and field team: A bow and some arrows like Yukari, a baseball bat like Junpei, a kendo stick like the sword Minato used once, and a blunt metal pole similar to the axe Shinji and Labrys used.

"Okay," Ken picked up the baseball bat, "I guess I just kinda…" Ken took a couple of swings, realizing pretty quickly that it was just like a sword, but no skill really required. Ken never really played baseball so he couldn't say anything about how hard you should swing or how far. The pipe was pretty much the same, only bigger and slower to swing.

Ken picked up the kendo stick, messing around with it. He was skilled with a spear, but a spear was long and he was used to using his entire body to control it, not just the upper half. Ken would need some serious professional help if he was going to ever master a sword.

Ken grabbed the bow and the quiver and placed them on his back, looking at the targets off in the distance.

"Not too hard," Ken knocked the bow, "I just pull and…" Ken launched the arrow, expecting it just to soar to the target. Instead, the arrow just kinda wobbled in the air and fell to the ground about three feet from his body.

"Damn it… wait…" Ken pulled on it harder. The arrow did the same thing, maybe going a couple of feet farther, "God damn it, this isn't me," he threw it to the ground. He was about ready to give up when he remembered Akihiko's words. Maybe they all started like this, maybe they all sucked like that.

"Amada! Quit messing around with that equipment!" the coach came out and saw him with the bow, "But it back and if it's broken you're gonna pay for it!"

"Yes sir!" he said as the coach went away, "Now… just one more arrow."

 ***The Kirijo Labs***

"Look at that," Mitsuru smiled as she looked down at her creation. Right now it was basically a metal skeleton of sorts, just the basic outlines of a human body. An empty skull, and empty rib cage, legs, and arms, "It's beautiful."

"It's just a metallic pile of bones," the scientist said, "Now comes the hard part; actually have to fit all this shit in there." Mitsuru looked over to see crates with guns and ammo and computer parts all ready to load.

"How long will it take?" Mitsuru asked.

"Realistically a few months, the scientist said, "These parts require careful installation and constant debugging as soon as a new one is introduced."

"We only have two months to finish this project," Mitsuru told him, "As per the board's request."

"If the board wants results in two months then we need more funding and more staff down here, we're running on a skeleton crew," the scientist told her.

"The board gave us a generous amount," Mitsuru said.

"Surprisingly, I still don't know how you managed to convince them to give us more funding, you've been asking for years," he asked her.

"I guess I just asked enough and they decided to throw some money to me just to keep me quiet," Mitsuru joked.

"Then maybe you should pester them more," he laughed. Mitsuru smiled as she walked over to Fuuka who was examining a console with Aigis and Labrys.

"Status?" she asked.

"Labrys and Aigis' upgrades are fully debugged and combat ready," Fuuka said, "They just need a little test drive."

"Excellent," Mitsuru was glad things were going along as she planned.

"Also, there has been no reported shadow activity over the past few months," Fuuka told her, "Maybe that giant bat is gone?"

"I doubt it, keep the sensors running obviously," Mitsuru said, "I'm not sure what the cause of the decline in shadow activity has been, but perhaps our friends in Inaba had something to do with it."

"Mitsuru-san?" Aigis looked over Mitsuru.

"Yes Aigis?" she answered.

"I was examining various data files the other night within The Kirijo Groups Information Network," Aigis told her, "I discovered something that concerned me."

"What?" Mitsuru looked at her.

"It was regarding the deal you made for The Seraph Project," Aigis said, "The contents of the deal were kept secret from us. The reunification of The Nanjo Group and The Kirijo Group and your marriage to Eiji Nanjo."

"Ah, yes, I decided to keep this marriage a secret until it was officially announced, it hasn't been approved yet and I still need to meet with Eiji personally," Mitsuru told Aigis, "Nobody other than Fuuka knows and I expect you to keep that information confidential as well."

"You can count on us!" Labrys said.

Indeed, however, there was one more detail that concerned me," Aigis said, "A stipulation of the deal was that if no working prototype exists by the end of this fiscal quarter, both Labrys and I shall be sold to the highest bidder in its place."

"What?" Fuuka gasped, "Is this true?"

"Fuuka…" Mitsuru calmed her down, "Listen…"

"How could you? You know we can't finish this project in two months!" She was almost shouting now, "You sold out two of your friends."

"I know we can finish it in two months!" Mitsuru told her, "I found a way, just hear me out."

"It'll take half a year just to debug this thing," Fuuka explained.

"It doesn't need to be perfect," Mitsuru said, "Just an AI, no persona or anything."

"Still…" Fuuka told her, "A personality takes time to develop, it cannot be forced."

"Unless we have a personality we can use in it," Mitsuru said.

"Like whose? Yours? Aigis? Labrys?" Fuuka pondered.

"An old friend…" she smiled.

"…" Fuuka's eyes widened, "Minato?"

"Minato!" Aigis gasped, "How do you get a copy of his personality?"

"I didn't, not yet," she said, "But we have those memories, we were his friends. We know him better than anyone else. Remember how they tried to erase Sho's personality, but keep his persona. We can use the same technology to take our memories of Minato's personality and transplant them into this body."

"That's… that could work," Fuuka told her.

"You wanna use the same device they used on Sho? That's crazy!" Labrys said, "That kid is crazy with a capital K!"

"Sho's personality is merely the result of his upbringing, Minato was kind and caring and valiant," Mitsuru said, "He saved the world once, now he can save it again."

"…" Fuuka grimaced, "This is a bad idea. Minato is gone, I wish he was back, we all do, but I don't think this is a good idea. We're dealing with forces we don't understand."

"Trust me Fuuka," Mitsuru said, "If it goes wrong, we can just pull the plug and start over… right Aigis?" Mitsuru looked at Aigis who was looking at the metal skeleton.

"I was programmed to always be beside him, to protect him," Aigis said, "In my own way, I failed. However, maybe now we can bring him back and my primary programming can be relevant once again. I… miss him…"

"Will you do it Aigis, for me?" Mitsuru went over to Aigis.

"…Indeed, I will do it for both you and him," she stared at that barren skull, now the future skull of a reborn Minato Aristo.

 ***One Month Later***

"THIRTY SIX!" Ken grunted out as he pulled himself up, "THIRTY SEVEN!" Ken was doing pull-ups in his room now, a newest portion of his morning workout routine.Over the past month Ken had been working his ass off and the results shown.

He had gotten much better with a bow, able to shoot and arrow straight and hit a medium sized target most of the time. He also looked up how to fence with a fencing sword and how to fight with a regular sword, learning all the stances and parries and thrusts. At the track, Ken's speed had improved greatly and was now leading the pack most of the time and breaking all his old records almost every day. The best part for Ken was his body. He wasn't ripped like Akihiko by any means, but now he had some muscles and a thin outline of an eight pack.

"FIFTY!" he said as he dropped to the ground. Ken took a huge swig of water and headed off to his shower, tossing the boxers he had on into the hamper. Since working out regularly now, Ken's 'accidents' had ceased.

Today was the big day of the track meet at The Seven Sisters High School, Ken getting up a little earlier than normal to head to the bus at the school to take them there. He cleaned himself up and ran out, grabbing a quick bite to eat before running out and heading to the bus.

 ***Track Meet***

"This is it Ken," the coach walked over to him, "We've got about five different schools here competing for the nationals, and your our best hope for making it in the 500 meter."

"I know," Ken was tying up his shoes.

"Not to put too much pressure on you," the coach comforted him, "Just do your best."

"We've made it in the archery and javelin categories and those guys aren't the best, this'll be a piece of cake," Ken chuckled as he walked out to the field to take his position.

"Let's go Ken!" Junpei yelled from the stands. Ken looked over to see all his friends watching him and cheering him on along with several others from school.

"You run the hell out of those 500 meters!" Yukari cheered.

"Yes! Use your legs in long strides to achieve maximum distance in minimum time!" Aigis stood up, "I require refreshments!" Aigis hopped down the stairs and ran off to the concession stand.

"Aigis doesn't eat," Junpei said, "Unless she eats oil or something…"

"I hope Ken wins," Yukari was almost hopping around in her seat, "I'd love to see him compete at Nationals, win that big trophy!"

"I've gotten several types of Cola!" Aigis came back with an armful of sodas, "The first one is called Mad Bull," she ripped the can open, pouring the entire can into her mouth, "The taste is sugary with a stinging sensation like that of battery acid!"

"What the…" Junpei looked at her, "How is she…"

"Fuuka, did you?" Mitsuru looked at Fuuka.

"Alright! I installed the digestive simulator in Aigis!" Fuuka said, "I just wanted her to enjoy human foods."

"Wait, she can eat now?" Junpei looked as Aigis continued to down sodas, "That's so cool! Has she tried hot dogs yet? Or nachos? Or beer? Can she get drunk?"

"I cannot get drunk," Aigis said, "I have no blood which can be diluted with alcoholic beverages."

"Shh, Ken's about to start!" Yukari said as they looked at Ken who was in place at the starting line with eleven others. The waited for the starting signal when, BOOM, the gunshot rang throughout the air. Ken took off as fast as he could. With the stakes so high right now, Ken's body was working as hard as it physically could.

"He's in the lead… by a lot!" Fuuka smiled, "GO KEN!"

Ken was running so fast now, leaving almost everyone behind in the dust. A few months ago he would have never expected to do this well, but now he felt he could do anything. He could conquer the world, he could win any competition in any sport, and he could get any woman… including Mitsuru. Soon, Ken ran across the finish line, diving into the grass as soon as he was clearly the winner and collapsed from pure exhaustion.

"Holy…shit!" the man with the stop watch said, "That's a new school record by 0.12 seconds!"

"KEN! You set a new record!" people ran over to him.

"He set a new record!" a girl in the stands stood up and cheered, "He's so sexy!"

"And he's single!" another girl said, "Why does he not have a girlfriend yet? He's sooo dreamy."

"Looks like Ken's got some fangirls," Yukari laughed, "If I was a sixteen year old girl I'd claw the eyes out of any girl in my way of a man like that."

"Are you hot for Ken?" Junpei asked, "Ahh, so cute?"

"No! He's sixteen Junpei!" Yukari blushed, "He's just very mature now and he's worked very hard at his appearance and… you know!" Yukari let out a nervous laugh, " _Damn I really need a hit right now!"_ Yukari stood up and ran off to the bathroom.

"Way to go Ken!" Akihiko shouted, "I'm proud of you!" Ken smiled and pointed to Akihiko in the audience as his teammates carried him off. Ken was in heaven right now, he had adoring fans and women swooned over him, but now with his newfound confidence he had once again fallen for the one woman he could not have, Mitsuru, even if she were married.

A lot was changing for Ken and the rest of the group, and soon an even bigger change would come that would rock the group to its very core.


End file.
